噬嗑 → 夬
Hexagram 21: Biting Through → Hexagram 43: Breakthrough
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 2, 3, 5, 6).
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 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 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
齊侯少子，才略美好；求我長女，賤薄不與。反得醜陋，後乃大悔。
The youngest son of the Marquis of Qi, gifted and handsome; he sought my eldest daughter, but I thought him too humble and refused. Instead he got an ugly bride -- afterward came great regret.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Fire and thunder administer the law, and here the judgment falls on pride and regret. The young son of the Marquis of Qi is gifted in talent and handsome in appearance. He seeks to marry one's eldest daughter, but is refused — deemed too base and unworthy. Instead, the family receives an ugly match, and afterward comes great remorse. The verse dramatizes the folly of misjudging a suitor's worth: the talented prince is scorned out of misplaced arrogance, and the family is left with its poor choice. From Biting Through to Breakthrough, the lake rises above heaven — truth must be proclaimed at court. The breakthrough here is bitter: the decisive cut reveals that one's own snobbery was the obstacle all along.
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