Hexagram 27: Nourishment → Hexagram 53: Development

Nourishment
Mountain / Thunder
Development
Wind / Mountain
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

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

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 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.

Trigram Changes

Upper TrigramMountain WindKeeping Still → The Gentle
Lower TrigramThunder MountainThe Arousing → Keeping Still

Yilin Verse

姬奭姜望,為武守邦。藩屏燕齊,周室以彊。子孫億昌。

Ji the Duke of Shao and Jiang Ziya; for King Wu they guard the realm. As shield and screen of Yan and Qi; the house of Zhou is thereby strong. Descendants flourish for a hundred million generations.

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

Commentary

Mountain over thunder gives way to wind over mountain — Development, the gradual progress of the tree growing on the mountain. Ji Shi and Jiang Wang guard the realm for King Wu. Ji Shi, the Duke of Shao, was enfeoffed at Yan; Jiang Wang, known as Taigong, was granted Qi. These two ministers served as bulwark and screen for the Zhou kingdom, and the house of Zhou grew mighty, its descendants flourishing for countless generations. From Nourishment to Development, the transformation is gradual and enduring: what the mountain carefully nourishes grows like the tree on the mountain's slope — slowly, steadily, across generations. The feudal system that Wen and Wu established was an act of nourishing the realm through trusted guardians, and its fruit lasted centuries.

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