賁 → 蒙
Hexagram 22: Grace → Hexagram 4: Youthful Folly
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3).
Line 1
初九 賁其趾。舍車而徒。
Nine at the beginning means: He lends grace to his toes, leaves the carriage, and walks.
Line 2
六二 賁其須。
Six in the second place means: Lends grace to the beard on his chin.
Line 3
九三 賁如濡如。永貞吉。
Nine in the third place means: Graceful and moist. Constant perseverance brings good fortune.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
戴盆望天,不見星辰;顧小失大,福逃墻外。
Carrying a basin on the head, gazing up at heaven; one cannot see the stars. Attending to the small, losing the great; fortune flees beyond the wall.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Fire beneath the mountain offers illumination, yet someone balances a basin on their head while trying to gaze at the sky — a proverbial image of self-defeating obstruction. With a basin overhead, one cannot see the stars; fixating on small concerns, one misses the greater fortune that escapes beyond the wall. This is a classic folk saying preserved in the Han Shu: 'Carrying a basin on your head, you cannot see heaven.' The irony cuts both ways: the person seeks light but creates their own darkness. From Grace to Youthful Folly, the mountain remains but fire gives way to the spring at the mountain's base. Adornment blinds; only by removing the basin — abandoning petty fixations — can the spring of genuine understanding be found.
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