頤 → 巽
Hexagram 27: Nourishment → Hexagram 57: The Gentle Wind
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 5).
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 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.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
絕言異路，心不相慕。虵子兩角，使我心惡。
Words cut off, paths diverge; hearts hold no longing for each other. A serpent child with two horns; it fills my heart with dread.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Mountain over thunder yields to doubled wind — the Gentle, penetrating influence repeated. Words are cut off, paths diverge, and hearts no longer yearn for one another. A serpent-child with two horns fills one with revulsion. The two-horned snake was an omen of the monstrous in Han-era lore — a creature that defies natural categories, neither fully serpent nor dragon. Communication severed and affection dead, the only thing that appears is this unnatural aberration. From Nourishment to the Gentle, the transformation should bring repeated, penetrating influence — wind following wind — yet here the doubling amplifies alienation rather than connection. What should gently enter the ear as counsel instead drives people apart. Nourishment of the spirit requires words; when speech is severed, only monsters fill the silence.
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