頤 → 鼎
Hexagram 27: Nourishment → Hexagram 50: The Cauldron
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 4).
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 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.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
牛馬聾聵，不知聲味。遠賢賤仁，自合亂憒。疾病無患，生福在門。
Oxen and horses, deaf and dull; they know neither sound nor savor. Dismissing the worthy, debasing the humane; bringing confusion upon themselves. Illness brings no lasting harm; life and blessing stand at the door.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Mountain over thunder opens toward fire over wind — the Cauldron, vessel of civilized transformation. Cattle and horses stand deaf and dull, knowing neither sound nor flavor. The worthy are exiled and the humane degraded, bringing chaos of their own accord. Yet illness carries no lasting harm, and at the gate new blessings are born. The deaf livestock represent governance blind to quality — a ruler who cannot distinguish sage from fool, nourishing the wrong things. From Nourishment to the Cauldron, the transformation should refine raw ingredients into civilized sustenance, but here the cook is senseless. Nevertheless, the verse resolves: even mismanaged nourishment eventually rights itself when the cauldron's inherent purpose reasserts. The Cauldron's fire and wind will cook what the deaf handler cannot taste.
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