噬嗑 → 井
Hexagram 21: Biting Through → Hexagram 48: The Well
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 6 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 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 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 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
陽城太室，神明所息；仁智之居，獨無兵革。
Yangcheng and Taishi, where spirits and gods reside; a dwelling of the humane and wise -- alone, free from arms and war.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Fire and thunder enforce the law, and here the law finds its sacred ground. Yangcheng and Taishi — the ancient district and the great peak of Mount Song, the Central Sacred Mountain — are where the divine spirits rest. This is the dwelling of the wise and benevolent, uniquely free from warfare and weapons. Mount Song's Taishi peak was revered as the axis of the world, the center of the Five Sacred Mountains, where heaven and earth communed. The inscription 'Zhongyue Taishi Yangcheng' marks this as cosmic geography. From Biting Through to The Well, water nourishes from below the wood. The sacred mountain becomes a well of inexhaustible wisdom: a place so deeply rooted in virtue that violence simply cannot reach it.
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