噬嗑 → 益

Commentary

Fire and thunder enforce the law, and here the cutting has gone wrong — the axe that should shape timber instead creates wounds. Blows from the blade leave sores that never heal. No acupuncture needle or medicinal stone is applied, and the patient descends into an empty chamber — the grave. The verse uses woodworking imagery turned medical: the axe (斧斤) that should be a tool of construction becomes an instrument of harm, and without the healer's needle (鍼石), the damage is fatal. From Biting Through to Increase, wind and thunder should reinforce each other in mutual benefit. Yet the verse shows Increase inverted: what should augment instead destroys, because the corrective tool was wielded without care and the remedy was never administered.