頤 → 坎
Hexagram 27: Nourishment → Hexagram 29: The Abysmal Water
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 5, 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 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 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.
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
天下雷行，塵起不明。市空無羊，疾人憂凶。三木不辜，脫歸家邦。
Thunder rolls beneath heaven; dust rises, dimming the light. The market is empty, no sheep to be found; the sick are filled with dread. The guiltless in wooden stocks; freed, they return to their homeland.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Mountain over thunder shifts to doubled water — the Abysmal, peril upon peril. Thunder rolls under heaven, dust rises and obscures the light. The marketplace stands empty of sheep; the sick worry over misfortune. One is clamped in the triple wooden stocks, though guiltless, and finally escapes home to one's own state. The 'three wooden stocks' were a Han-era punishment device combining neck, hand, and foot restraints. From Nourishment to the Abysmal, the transformation plunges nourishment into crisis: the market where food is traded is desolate, illness destroys appetite, and the innocent are imprisoned. Yet the verse resolves with return — even from the depths of unjust confinement, the well-nourished spirit finds its way back.
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