賁 → 鼎
Hexagram 22: Grace → Hexagram 50: The Cauldron
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 4).
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 4
六四 賁如皤如。白馬翰如。匪寇婚媾。
Six in the fourth place means: Grace or simplicity? A white horse comes as if on wings. He is not a robber, He will woo at the right time.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
東門之壇,茹藘在坂。禮義不行,與我心反。
The altar by the eastern gate; madder root grows upon the slope. Ritual and propriety are not observed; it runs counter to my heart.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Fire beneath the mountain finds disorder at the eastern gate. On the open ground by the east gate, madder grass grows on the hillside — an image drawn from the Shijing ode 'Dong Men Zhi Shan' (鄭風·東門之墠), a love poem in which a woman lives tantalizingly near yet remains emotionally distant. The verse concludes: propriety and righteousness are not practiced, and all of this runs counter to my heart. The Shijing allusion grounds the lament: the east gate should be a place of proper social meeting, but ritual has collapsed. From Grace to the Cauldron, fire beneath the mountain rises to fire above wood. The Cauldron transforms raw materials through ritual cooking, but here the ingredients are spoiled — without propriety, even the sacred vessel cannot produce a worthy offering.
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