屯 → 蠱
Hexagram 3: Difficulty at the Beginning → Hexagram 18: Work on the Decayed
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 5 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 5, 6).
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 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 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
南巴六安，石解戟天。所指不已，耋老復丁。弊室舊墟，更為新家。
Nanba, Liu’an; stones split, halberds point to heaven. Pointing ceaselessly onward; the aged return to youth. The ruined dwelling and old ruins become a new home.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Clouds and thunder transform into mountain above wind: initial chaos becomes the work of renovation. South of Ba and the six settlements of An, rocks crack open and pierce the sky. What was pointed at without ceasing now reverses: the elderly are restored to vigor. The dilapidated house on old ruins is rebuilt as a new home. From Difficulty at the Beginning to Work on the Decayed, the verse traces a complete cycle of destruction and renewal. The mountain stands above the wind that decays its foundations, but this decay is the precondition for rebuilding. What was ancient and exhausted is not merely repaired but fundamentally transformed. The old man becomes young again, the ruin becomes a dwelling, and the initial difficulty of Zhun is revealed as the raw material for Gu's renovating work.
The Six Lines app includes all 4,096 Yilin verses, each with original ink brush artwork and full commentary. Download on the App Store