剝 → 革

Commentary

Mountain upon earth erodes into lake containing fire — Revolution, the hexagram of radical transformation. A swan seeks fish to eat but on the road encounters a hunter's arrow. A silk net wraps around its neck; cords bind its wings. It wants to fly but cannot — captured by Archer Yi. The swan, a creature of sky and freedom, is trapped mid-journey while merely seeking sustenance. The net and cord — tools of human artifice — overwhelm natural strength. Archer Yi's appearance elevates the capture from mundane hunting to mythic subjugation. From Splitting Apart to Revolution, the mountain's decay creates conditions for revolutionary change, but this verse shows revolution from the victim's perspective: the old order is overthrown, and those caught in the transition are as helpless as the netted swan. Revolution requires the right timing; the swan's timing was fatally wrong.