噬嗑 → 剝
Hexagram 21: Biting Through → Hexagram 23: Splitting Apart
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
凶憂災殃，日益章明；禍不可休，三郤夷傷。
Dire trouble and calamity, day by day growing clearer; disaster cannot be stayed -- the three Xi are cut down.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Fire and thunder enforce the law, and here disaster compounds daily, growing clearer and more dire. Calamity cannot be stopped — and then the verse names its target: the Three Xi are wounded and cut down. The Three Xi (三郤) were the powerful Xi clan members of Jin — Xi Qi, Xi Chou, and Xi Zhi — whose combined wealth equaled half the ducal house and whose troops filled half the army. In 574 BC, Duke Li of Jin ordered their assassination; Changyu Jiao killed them with his halberd. Their overreach invited destruction. From Biting Through to Splitting Apart, the mountain crumbles upon the earth. Accumulated power, grown too heavy for its foundation, strips away layer by layer until nothing remains.
The Six Lines app includes all 4,096 Yilin verses, each with original ink brush artwork and full commentary. Download on the App Store