坎 → 晉
Hexagram 29: The Abysmal Water → Hexagram 35: Progress
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 2, 4, 5, 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 5
九五 坎不盈。祗既平。无咎。
Nine in the fifth place means: The abyss is not filled to overflowing, It is filled only to the rim. No blame.
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
道途多石，傷車折軸。與市為仇，不利客宿。
The road is full of stones; they damage the cart and break the axle. Making enemies at market; not fit for a traveler's lodging.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Water upon water, the road itself becomes the enemy. Stones crowd the path, smashing the carriage and snapping its axle. The marketplace turns hostile, and lodging is denied to the traveling merchant. Every element conspires against forward movement: the terrain wounds, commerce resists, and no shelter can be found. From The Abysmal to Progress, fire should rise above the earth as the sun at dawn — clarity ascending into open sky. Yet this verse shows the obstacles that block that ascent. The broken axle on a stony road is the anti-image of Progress: the light that should advance finds only resistance. The merchant who cannot lodge must persist until the stones are cleared.
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