屯 → 大有
Hexagram 3: Difficulty at the Beginning → Hexagram 14: Great Possession
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 5 changing lines (lines 2, 3, 4, 5, 6).
Line 2
六二 屯如邅如。乘馬班如。匪寇婚媾。女子貞不字。十年乃字。
Six in the second place means: Difficulties pile up. Horse and wagon part. He is not a robber; He wants to woo when the time comes. The maiden is chaste, She does not pledge herself. Ten years–then she pledges herself.
Line 3
六三 即鹿無虞。惟入于林中。君子幾不如舍。往吝。
Six in the third place means: Whoever hunts deer without the forester Only loses his way in the forest. The superior man understands the signs of the time And prefers to desist. To go on brings humiliation.
Line 4
六四 乘馬班如。求婚媾。往吉。无不利。
Six in the fourth place means: Horse and wagon part. Strive for union. To go brings good fortune. Everything acts to further.
Line 5
九五 屯其膏。小貞吉。大貞凶。
Nine in the fifth place means: Difficulties in blessing. A little perseverance brings good fortune. Great perseverance brings misfortune.
Line 6
上六 乘馬班如。泣血漣如。
Six at the top means: Horse and wagon part. Bloody tears flow.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
河伯大呼，津不得渡。船空無人，往來亦難。
The River God cries out; the ford cannot be crossed. The boat is empty, no one aboard; coming and going are likewise difficult.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Clouds and thunder give way to fire blazing in heaven: initial difficulty opens into vast possession, yet the river god blocks the way. The Earl of the River bellows, and the ford cannot be crossed. The boat sits empty with no one aboard, and passage back and forth proves impossible. Hebo, the Yellow River deity, demands sacrifice before granting passage. Even when abundance beckons on the far shore, a divine gatekeeper stands between the traveler and his destination. From Difficulty at the Beginning to Great Possession, the transformation promises fire above heaven, illuminating everything, but the verse reveals that great wealth requires crossing dangerous thresholds. The river god's fury warns that not all barriers yield to ambition alone.
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