頤 → 升
Hexagram 27: Nourishment → Hexagram 46: Pushing Upward
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 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 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 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
三鳥鴛鴦，相隨俱行。南到饒澤，食魚與粱。君子樂長，見惡不傷。
Three birds — mandarin ducks — follow each other in flight. Southward they reach the rich marshes; feeding on fish and millet. The noble man joy endures; he sees no harm from evil.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Mountain over thunder opens toward earth over wind — Pushing Upward, the tree growing slowly within the earth. Three birds and mandarin ducks travel together southward, reaching a rich marsh where they feast on fish and grain. The gentleman enjoys lasting happiness, encountering harm without being injured. The mandarin ducks — eternal symbols of conjugal devotion — journey to abundance through companionship. The rich marsh offers both fish and grain: nourishment of the complete kind. From Nourishment to Pushing Upward, the transformation is gradual and organic: what the mountain's stillness nurtured now rises steadily, like wood growing within the earth. The journey south to plenty mirrors the upward push of rooted growth, and the gentleman who has nourished well ascends without fear.
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