噬嗑 → 巽
Hexagram 21: Biting Through → Hexagram 57: The Gentle Wind
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 5 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 4, 5).
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.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
東家殺牛，污臭腥臊；神背西顧，命絕衰周。
The eastern neighbor slaughters an ox, foul and reeking; the spirit turns its back and gazes west -- fate withers in declining Zhou.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Fire and thunder enforce the law, and here improper sacrifice drives the spirits away. The eastern neighbor slaughters an ox, but the offering reeks of blood and filth — the stench of corrupted ritual. The spirits turn their backs and face west, and the mandate expires over the declining Zhou. The verse echoes the Yijing's own Jici hexagram commentary: 'The eastern neighbor's ox-sacrifice is not as good as the western neighbor's small spring offering.' Lavish sacrifice without sincerity repels the divine. From Biting Through to The Gentle, doubled wind penetrates everywhere. Yet the verse shows what gentle penetration reveals: when institutional worship is corrupted, the spirits simply leave. No amount of slaughtered oxen can recall a departed mandate.
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