Hexagram 27: Nourishment → Hexagram 48: The Well

Nourishment
Mountain / Thunder
The Well
Water / Wind
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 5 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 5, 6).

Line 1

初九 舍爾靈龜。觀我朶頤。凶。

shěforsake
ěryour
língspirit
guītortoise
guānand
me
duǒhanging open
with hungry mouth
xiōngunfortunate

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。

diānabnormal
appetite
dismiss
jīngthe norms
and going to
qiūthe hilltops
with hungry mouth
zhēngpressing
xiōngis misfortune

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。

dismissing
the hungry mouth
zhēnpersistence
xiōngis unfortunate
shífor ten
niányears
not to be
yònguseful
this is no
yōua direction
with merit

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 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.

Line 6

上九 由頤。厲吉。利涉大川。

yóuat
the appetites
distress
but promising
it is worthwhile
shèto cross
the great
chuānstream

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

Upper TrigramMountain WaterKeeping Still → The Deep
Lower TrigramThunder WindThe Arousing → The Gentle

Yilin Verse

終風東西,散渙四方。終日至暮,不見子懽。

The ceaseless wind blows east and west; scattering and dispersing in all four directions. From daybreak through to dusk; the child joy is not to be seen.

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

Commentary

Mountain over thunder gives way to water over wind — the Well, the inexhaustible source. A ceaseless wind blows east and west, scattering things in all four directions. From dawn until dusk one waits, never seeing the son's joyful return. The wind disperses what the well should gather; the nourishment that should rise from the depths is blown apart before it can be drawn. From Nourishment to the Well, the transformation should promise sustenance from a deep, constant source, yet this verse inverts the promise. The well exists — the water is there — but the wind scatters the one who should draw from it. Waiting all day for a reunion that never comes, the well's nourishment goes untapped.

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