頤 → 困
Hexagram 27: Nourishment → Hexagram 47: Oppression
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 5 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 4, 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 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.
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
遠視目盻，臨深苦眩。不離越都，旅人留連。
Gazing afar, the eyes strain; looking down into the deep, bitter dizziness. Unable to leave the capital of Yue; the traveler lingers on, reluctant to depart.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Mountain over thunder shifts to lake over water — Oppression, the lake drained dry above the water below. Gazing into the distance strains the eyes; standing at the edge of the deep induces bitter vertigo. Unable to leave the capital of Yue, the traveler lingers on, detained and longing. The verse captures the specific paralysis of being trapped in a place one can see beyond but cannot escape. The reference to Yue — the southeastern kingdom of Goujian — may evoke the state's reputation as a place of dangerous entanglement. From Nourishment to Oppression, the transformation drains: the lake holds no water, and the eyes that should find nourishment in the horizon find only dizziness. One is oppressed by the very distance one cannot cross.
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