噬嗑 → 歸妹
Hexagram 21: Biting Through → Hexagram 54: The Marrying Maiden
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 2, 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 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
名成德就，項領不試；景公耄老，尼父逝去。
Fame achieved and virtue fulfilled, yet the neck was never tested; Duke Jing grew old and frail -- Confucius passed away.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Fire and thunder enforce the law, but this verse mourns the passing of an era. Name and virtue are complete, yet the neck was never tested — meaning the worthy one was never given the chance to serve. Duke Jing of Qi grows old and feeble, and 'Father Ni' departs — Confucius, called by his courtesy name in the Yilin tradition, dies. The pairing of Duke Jing's senility with Confucius's death captures the moment when the last hope of sage governance expired. From Biting Through to the Marrying Maiden, thunder moves above the lake as the younger woman enters an irrevocable bond. The transformation carries the weight of irreversibility: what is done cannot be undone, and the age of the sages will not return.
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