Hexagram 27: Nourishment → Hexagram 1: The Creative

Nourishment
Mountain / Thunder
The Creative
Heaven / Heaven
Changing LinesStable Lines

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。

diānabnormal
appetite
dismiss
jīngthe norms
and going to
qiūthe hilltops
with hungry mouth
zhēngpressing
xiōngis misfortune

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。

dismissing
the hungry mouth
zhēnpersistence
xiōngis unfortunate
shífor ten
niányears
not to be
yònguseful
this is no
yōua direction
with merit

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。

diānabnormal
appetite
is promising
the tiger
shìlooks
dānstaring
dānand staring
with its own
passion
zhúis to hunt
zhúand give chase
but no
jiùblame

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。

dismissing
jīngthe norms
to practice
zhēnpersistence
is promising
but one is not
suited
shèto
the great
chuānstream

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

Upper TrigramMountain HeavenKeeping Still → The Creative
Lower TrigramThunder HeavenThe Arousing → The Creative

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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