无妄 → 困
Hexagram 25: Innocence → Hexagram 47: Oppression
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 6).
Line 1
初九 无妄。往吉。
Nine at the beginning means: Innocent behavior brings good fortune.
Line 2
六二 不耕穫。不菑畬。則利有攸往。
Six in the second place means: If one does not count on the harvest while plowing, Nor on the use of the ground while clearing it, It furthers one to undertake something.
Line 6
上九 无妄。行有眚。无攸利。
Nine at the top means: Innocent action brings misfortune. Nothing furthers.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
鷹栖茂樹，猴雀往來。一擊獲兩，伏不枝梧。
A hawk perches in a flourishing tree; monkeys and sparrows come and go. One strike captures two; it crouches, concealed among the branches.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
A hawk perches in a dense tree, while monkeys and sparrows come and go freely below. With a single strike it seizes two, then crouches motionless, utterly still. From Innocence to Oppression, the transformation reveals the predator's logic within apparent stillness. Kun's image of the lake without water — resources drained, vitality exhausted — describes constraint at its most absolute. Yet the hawk in the verse is not the oppressed but the oppressor, or perhaps the one who survives oppression through ruthless efficiency. The double kill from a single strike conserves energy when resources are scarce. In Wuwang's framework, this is innocence weaponized: natural instinct refined to lethal precision under conditions of extreme limitation.
The Six Lines app includes all 4,096 Yilin verses, each with original ink brush artwork and full commentary. Download on the App Store