大畜 → 蠱
Hexagram 26: Great Taming → Hexagram 18: Work on the Decayed
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 1 changing line (line 1).
Line 1
初九 有厲。利已。
Nine at the beginning means: Danger is at hand. It furthers one to desist.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
一巢九子，同公共母。柔順利貞，出入不殆。福祿所在。
In the hollow of an old tree, the swallow returns to the nest; nine chicks squeeze together, calling out. The mother bird carries insects, feeding them in turns — the branch is steady, the nest is warm, nothing shakes.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Heaven stored within the mountain descends into mountain over wind — Work on the Decayed. The original verse reads: 'One nest, nine fledglings, sharing one father and mother. Gentle compliance brings auspicious constancy; going out and coming in without danger — here is where blessings and prosperity reside.' The image is tender domesticity: a large brood thriving under devoted parental care. Softness and constancy sustain the household. From Great Taming to Work on the Decayed, the mountain's stored heaven settles into the mountain with wind stirring beneath — the wind of renewal working through what has grown old. Nine fledglings in one nest suggest that even inherited decay can be repaired when the household nurtures its young with patient devotion.
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