屯 → 謙
Hexagram 3: Difficulty at the Beginning → Hexagram 15: Modesty
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 5).
Line 1
初九 磐桓。利居貞。利建侯。
Nine at the beginning means: Hesitation and hindrance. It furthers one to remain persevering. It furthers one to appoint helpers.
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 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.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
甘露醴泉，太平機關。仁德感應，歲樂民安。
Sweet dew, sweet spring; the pivot of great peace. Benevolent virtue stirs a response; the year brings joy, the people are at rest.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Clouds and thunder dissolve into earth containing mountain: initial struggle yields to genuine modesty. Sweet dew and sweet springs flow forth — these are the tokens of a perfectly governed age, portents that appear only when a ruler's virtue moves heaven. Benevolent virtue resonates with the cosmos, and the people enjoy peace year after year. In Han omenology, sweet dew (ganlu) descending and sweet springs (liquan) rising were considered supreme confirmations of moral governance. From Difficulty at the Beginning to Modesty, the transformation is profound: the mountain hidden within the earth refuses to tower above others, and precisely this self-effacement draws celestial blessing. Initial chaos resolves not through force but through the quiet gravity of genuine virtue.
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