頤 → 謙
Hexagram 27: Nourishment → Hexagram 15: Modesty
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 6).
Line 1
初九 舍爾靈龜。觀我朶頤。凶。
Nine at the beginning means: You let your magic tortoise go, And look at me with the corners of your mouth drooping. 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 6
上九 由頤。厲吉。利涉大川。
Nine at the top means: The source of nourishment. Awareness of danger brings good fortune. It furthers one to cross the great water.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
乘船道濟，載水逢火。賴得無患，蒙我生全。
Boarding a boat to cross the ford; the laden vessel meets fire. Fortunate to escape unharmed; blessed, my life is kept whole.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Mountain over thunder, the nourishing jaws, transforms into earth over mountain — Modesty, where the mountain hides within the earth. Boarding a boat to cross the ford, one encounters first water then fire — twin perils in succession. Yet by good fortune no harm results, and life is preserved whole. The verse captures the paradox of surviving what should have been fatal. From Nourishment to Modesty, the transformation reveals the mechanism of survival: the mountain that once stood proud now lies within the earth, lowering itself. The one who is nourished endures danger not through strength but through the modest willingness to ride low and pass through.
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