噬嗑 → 謙
Hexagram 21: Biting Through → Hexagram 15: Modesty
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 4, 6).
Line 1
初九 履校滅趾。无咎。
Nine at the beginning means: His feet are fastened in the stocks, So that his toes disappear. 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 4
九四 噬乾胏。得金矢。利艱貞。吉。
Nine in the fourth place means: Bites on dried gristly meat. Receives metal arrows. It furthers one to be mindful of difficulties And to be persevering. Good fortune.
Line 6
上九 何校滅耳。凶。
Nine at the top means: His neck is fastened in the wooden cangue, So that his ears disappear. Misfortune.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
天地淳厚，六合光明；陰陽順序，以成厥功。
Heaven and earth are generous and kind, the six directions bright; yin and yang follow their proper order -- thereby achieving their work.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Fire and thunder administer justice, and the result is cosmic order fulfilled. Heaven and earth are generous and thick with virtue, the six directions shine with light. Yin and yang follow their proper sequence, and through this alignment, great works are accomplished. The verse describes a world where natural law operates so smoothly that human intervention becomes unnecessary. From Biting Through to Modesty, the mountain hidden within the earth embodies perfectly balanced power. The harsh enforcement of hexagram 21 yields to the gentle leveling of hexagram 15, where the high is brought low and the low raised up — not through punishment but through the quiet self-correction of a well-ordered cosmos.
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