頤 → 乾
Hexagram 27: Nourishment → Hexagram 1: The Creative
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 2, 3, 4, 5).
Line 2
六二 顛頤。拂經于丘。頤征凶。
Six in the second place means: Turning to the summit for nourishment, Deviating from the path To seek nourishment from the hill. Continuing to do this brings misfortune.
Line 3
六三 拂頤。貞凶。十年勿用。无攸利。
Six in the third place means: Turning away from nourishment. Perseverance brings misfortune. Do not act thus for ten years. Nothing serves to further.
Line 4
六四 顛頤。吉。虎視眈眈。其欲逐逐。无咎。
Six in the fourth place means: Turning to the summit For provision of nourishment Brings good fortune. Spying about with sharp eyes Like a tiger with insatiable craving. No blame.
Line 5
六五 拂經。居貞吉。不可涉大川。
Six in the fifth place means: Turning away from the path. To remain persevering brings good fortune. One should not cross the great water.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
思初道古,哀吟無輔。陽明不制,上失其所。
Pondering beginnings, tracing antiquity; mournful chanting, without support. The bright yang cannot restrain; the superior loses his proper place.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Mountain over thunder, the jaws of nourishment, gives way to pure heaven's self-generating drive. The verse looks backward to ancient ways, lamenting in solitary grief without support. Yang brilliance goes unchecked, and the one above loses his proper place. When nourishment lacks governance, even luminous energy becomes destructive. The imagery evokes a ruler whose vitality outpaces his wisdom, like heaven's doubled strength running without restraint. From Nourishment to the Creative, the transformation warns that raw creative force, untempered by the careful discernment of what to cultivate and what to refuse, loses its seat. The mouth that nourishes must choose wisely, or heaven's own power becomes self-consuming.
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