噬嗑 → 兌
Hexagram 21: Biting Through → Hexagram 58: The Joyous Lake
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 2, 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 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
火起吾後，喜炙我鹿；蒼龍𠾑水，泉噀柱屋。雖憂無咎。
Fire breaks out behind me, roasting my deer with joy; a blue-green dragon holds water in its mouth, spraying it on the pillars. Though there is worry, there is no blame.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Fire and thunder enforce the law, and here fire breaks out behind the speaker — but instead of catastrophe, it roasts a deer, turning disaster into a feast. Then the Azure Dragon spits water, and the spring quenches the pillars and beams of the house, dousing any lingering flame. Though there is worry, there is no blame. The Azure Dragon (蒼龍), guardian of the east and lord of spring, intervenes with water to neutralize fire's destructive potential. From Biting Through to The Joyous, paired lakes share their waters in mutual delight. The verse dramatizes the transformation: what begins as alarm ends in feasting, and the cosmic guardian ensures that even the fire behind you becomes a source of nourishment rather than ruin.
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