无妄 → 兌
Hexagram 25: Innocence → Hexagram 58: The Joyous Lake
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 2, 6).
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
持猬逢虎,患厭不起。遂至懽國,與福笑語,君王樂喜。
Holding a hedgehog, meeting a tiger; the terror will not abate. At last reaching the land of joy; speaking and laughing with fortune. The ruler delights in happiness.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Clutching a hedgehog, one encounters a tiger — and the tiger, intimidated by the spines, crouches down and cannot rise. The traveler then arrives at the Land of Joy, exchanging blessings and laughter with its people; the king himself delights. The hedgehog subduing the tiger recalls the Shiji's natural lore: 'The hedgehog can subdue the tiger.' From Innocence to The Joyous, the transformation shows how small, well-defended innocence disarms raw power and opens the way to pure celebration. Dui's paired lakes represent shared joy and mutual discourse. The tiger's defeat is not martial but structural — spines against claws, armor against force — and what follows is not conquest but a community of delight.
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