頤 → 屯
Hexagram 27: Nourishment → Hexagram 3: Difficulty at the Beginning
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 5, 6).
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
三雁俱行，避暑就涼。適與矰遇，為繳所傷。
Three geese travel together, fleeing heat to seek the cool. They chance upon a stringed arrow; wounded by the tethered shaft.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Mountain over thunder, the still jaws of nourishment, shifts toward clouds and thunder of difficult beginnings. Three wild geese fly together, fleeing summer heat for cooler air, only to encounter a stringed arrow mid-flight and fall wounded. The image is precise: creatures seeking sustenance make themselves vulnerable by moving in the open. The stringed arrow, a hunter's tool for bringing down birds without losing the shaft, turns the geese's natural migration into a trap. From Nourishment to Difficulty at the Beginning, the transformation captures the peril of transition itself. What nourishes in one season exposes in another, and the journey toward better conditions is precisely where danger lies in wait.
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