噬嗑 → 復
Hexagram 21: Biting Through → Hexagram 24: Return
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 4, 6).
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
長尾蜲蛇，畫地為河；深不可涉，阻絕以無。惆然憤息。
A long-tailed serpent draws a line in the earth for a river; too deep to wade, it blocks the way to nothing. Brooding and sighing in frustration.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Fire and thunder bite through obstacles, but here a serpent with a long, sinuous tail draws a line upon the ground and calls it a river. The line cannot be crossed — it is too deep to ford — and the way is blocked to nothing. One sighs in frustrated anguish. The image is of a false barrier: a snake traces a mark on earth and declares it impassable, yet it is only a drawn line, not a real river. The frustration lies in being stopped by an illusion. From Biting Through to Return, thunder stirs beneath the earth at the winter solstice. The verse suggests that what blocks the path is not a true obstacle but a deception — and the return of yang energy will expose the false river for what it is.
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