頤 → 噬嗑
Hexagram 27: Nourishment → Hexagram 21: Biting Through
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 1 changing line (line 4).
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.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
隨陽轉行，不失其常。君安於鄉，國無咎殃。
Following the sun course in turning flight; never straying from the constant way. The lord is secure in his domain; the state suffers no blame or calamity.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Mountain over thunder gives way to fire and thunder — Biting Through, the hexagram of legal clarity. Following the sun's course and turning with its rhythm, one does not lose the constant way. The ruler rests secure in his domain, and the state suffers no calamity. The verse describes governance aligned with cosmic order: like migratory birds following the yang-light of the sun, the ruler who moves with the seasons maintains natural justice without force. From Nourishment to Biting Through, the transformation clarifies: the mouth that nourishes wisely becomes the mouth that adjudicates justly. Thunder and lightning illuminate wrongdoing, but only a ruler nourished on proper rhythm can wield that power without excess.
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