坎 → 漸
Hexagram 29: The Abysmal Water → Hexagram 53: Development
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 2, 3, 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 3
六三 來之坎坎。險且枕。入于坎窞。勿用。
Six in the third place means: Forward and backward, abyss on abyss. In danger like this, pause at first and wait, Otherwise you will fall into a pit in the abyss. Do not act this way.
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
白雲如帶，往往旗處，飛風送迎，大雹將下，擊我禾稼，僵死不起。
White clouds like sashes; everywhere they stand like banners. A fierce wind sends them forth; great hail is about to fall. It strikes my grain and crops; they lie broken and cannot rise.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Water upon water, the sky turns violent. White clouds stretch like banners across the horizon, and suddenly a fierce wind rises to deliver them. Massive hailstones plummet down, pounding the grain and crops until they lie flattened and dead, beyond recovery. The verse captures agricultural catastrophe in real time: the beautiful clouds that seemed like flags were harbingers of destruction. From The Abysmal to Development, wood grows gradually upon the mountain — the patient, step-by-step advance of the wild goose. Yet this verse shows development brutally interrupted: what was slowly growing is destroyed in an instant by forces beyond human control. Gradual progress requires that heaven cooperate, and sometimes it does not.
The Six Lines app includes all 4,096 Yilin verses, each with original ink brush artwork and full commentary. Download on the App Store