噬嗑 → 中孚
Hexagram 21: Biting Through → Hexagram 61: Inner Truth
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 2, 4, 5).
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 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
瓊英朱草，仁政得道；鳧鷖在渚，福祿來下。
Jade blossoms and vermillion grasses -- the fruits of humane governance and the Way. Ducks and geese rest on the islet; blessing and fortune descend.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Fire and thunder enforce the law, and their work yields a world of auspicious beauty. Jade-bright flowers and cinnabar grass grow forth — omens of benevolent governance achieved through moral cultivation. Ducks and cormorants rest on the river islets, and blessings descend from above. The 'jade flowers and vermilion grass' (瓊英朱草) are traditional portents of sage rule, appearing only when virtue saturates the land. From Biting Through to Inner Truth, wind moves over the lake as sincerity penetrates without force. The harshest hexagram of the legal code transforms into the gentlest: when justice has been truly internalized, its outward signs are not prisons and penalties but flowers blooming and waterfowl settling in peace.
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