噬嗑 → 乾
Hexagram 21: Biting Through → Hexagram 1: The Creative
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 2, 3, 5).
Line 2
六二 噬膚滅鼻。无咎。
Six in the second place means: Bites through tender meat, So that his nose disappears. No blame.
Line 3
六三 噬腊肉。遇毒。小吝。无咎。
Six in the third place means: Bites on old dried meat And strikes on something poisonous. Slight humiliation. No blame.
Line 5
六五 噬乾肉。得黃金。貞厲。无咎。
Six in the fifth place means: Bites on dried lean meat. Receives yellow gold. Perseveringly aware of danger. No blame.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
北風相牽，提笑語言；伯歌叔舞，讌樂以喜。
The north wind draws them together, lifting laughter and words; the elder brother sings, the younger dances -- they feast and make merry.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Fire and thunder bite through obstacles, but the verse opens onto pure celebration. A north wind draws companions together, pulling them laughing and talking along the road. Elder brothers sing while younger brothers dance — a feast of unforced joy. The imagery evokes the communal harmony of the Shijing's banquet odes, where shared music and laughter knit kinship bonds tight. No obstacle remains; all is open sky. From Biting Through to The Creative, the transformation is decisive: what once required force to penetrate now flows freely as self-generating vitality. The penalty code gives way to pure heaven doubled, where movement is effortless because all resistance has already been cleared.
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