噬嗑 → 坎
Hexagram 21: Biting Through → Hexagram 29: The Abysmal Water
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 5 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 4, 5, 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 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 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 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.
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
葛藟蒙棘，華不得實；讒佞亂政，使忠壅塞。
Creeping vines smother the thorns; blossoms never bear fruit. Flatterers and slanderers corrupt the state, choking the loyal into silence.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Fire and thunder enforce just order, but here the judicial system itself has been corrupted. Creeping vines smother the thornbush — blossoms appear but never bear fruit. Slanderers and flatterers disorder the government, causing loyal ministers to be blocked and silenced. The vine-on-thorn image (葛藟蒙棘) echoes the Shijing, where parasitic vines represent those who thrive by clinging to others. Flowers without fruit symbolize effort without result, promise without fulfillment. From Biting Through to The Abysmal, doubled water plunges into repeated danger. The corruption of the court creates a trap with no exit — the more one struggles for integrity, the deeper one sinks.
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