Hexagram 27: Nourishment → Hexagram 42: Increase

Nourishment
Mountain / Thunder
Increase
Wind / Thunder
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 1 changing line (line 5).

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 WindKeeping Still → The Gentle
Lower TrigramThunder Thunder

Yilin Verse

懸狟素飡,食非其任。失輿剝廬,休坐從居。

A hanging badger feeds freely; eating what is not its charge. Losing the carriage, the roof stripped bare; one rests and sits, resigned to stay.

— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE

Commentary

Mountain over thunder shifts to wind over thunder — Increase, where the upper diminishes itself to enrich the lower. A badger hangs upside down, eating without earning its keep, consuming what is not its rightful portion. The carriage is lost, the hut stripped bare; one sits idle, compelled to stay put. The suspended badger feeding greedily suggests parasitic nourishment — taking without contributing. From Nourishment to Increase, the transformation is ironic: Increase should mean generosity flowing downward, yet this verse shows nourishment seized from the wrong position. The one who feeds without working loses both vehicle and shelter. True increase requires reciprocity; nourishment without contribution collapses into enforced stillness.

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