剝 → 井
Hexagram 23: Splitting Apart → Hexagram 48: The Well
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 2, 5).
Line 2
六二 剝牀以辨。蔑貞凶。
Six in the second place means: The bed is split at the edge. Those who persevere are destroyed. Misfortune.
Line 5
六五 貫魚。以宮人寵。无不利。
Six in the fifth place means: A shoal of fishes. Favor comes through the court ladies. Everything acts to further.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
載船渡海，雖深難咎。孫子俱在，不失其所。
Loading a boat to cross the sea; though deep, it is hard to fault. Grandchildren are all present; none loses his place.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Mountain upon earth strips away, revealing water drawn up by wood — the Well, which nourishes without moving from its place. One loads a ship and crosses the sea; though the waters are deep, there is no fault. Grandchildren are all present; nothing is lost from its proper place. The Well hexagram speaks of a resource that remains constant even as communities change around it. The sea voyage is perilous, but the ship holds; the family line continues; nothing essential is displaced. From Splitting Apart to the Well, the mountain that crumbled on land is replaced by the depth of the sea, which the vessel crosses safely. The Well's constancy manifests here as generational continuity — grandchildren survive, the family endures. Like the well that does not move yet serves all who come, the verse promises stability beneath apparent danger.
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