坎 → 否
Hexagram 29: The Abysmal Water → Hexagram 12: Standstill
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 2, 4, 6).
Line 2
九二 坎有險。求小得。
Nine in the second place means: The abyss is dangerous. One should strive to attain small things only.
Line 4
六四 樽酒簋貳。用缶。納約自牖。終无咎。
Six in the fourth place means: A jug of wine, a bowl of rice with it; Earthen vessels Simply handed in through the Window. There is certainly no blame in this.
Line 6
上六 係用徽纆。寘于叢棘。三歲不得。凶。
Six at the top means: Bound with cords and ropes, Shut in between thorn-hedged prison walls: For three years one does not find the way. Misfortune.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
齊魯求國，仁聖輔德，進禮雅言，定公以安。
Qi and Lu sought their states; the sagely and humane upheld virtue. Advancing rites and elegant speech, Duke Ding was thereby set at ease.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Water upon water, peril demands a sage's intervention. Qi and Lu contend for advantage, but a man of humane wisdom and saintly virtue assists with propriety and refined speech — likely evoking Confucius's role at the Jiaqu covenant between Qi and Lu, where as master of ceremonies he recovered Lu's lost territory through ritual authority and moral force. Duke Ding is thereby secured in peace. From The Abysmal to Standstill, the paradox deepens: heaven and earth fail to communicate, yet precisely in that blockage, the sage's intervention becomes indispensable. By advancing ritual and elegant discourse into the void between warring states, the sage prevents total collapse even when cosmic communication has broken down.
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