屯 → 噬嗑
Hexagram 3: Difficulty at the Beginning → Hexagram 21: Biting Through
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 4, 5, 6).
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
陳妻敬仲，兆興齊姜。營丘是適，八世大昌。
A woman of Chen weds Jing Zhong; the omen foretells prosperity through the Jiang clan of Qi. Making their home at Yingqiu; for eight generations, great flourishing.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Clouds and thunder yield to fire and thunder together: initial chaos is resolved through decisive action. Chen's wife married into the Jingzhong clan, and the omen foretold prosperity replacing the Jiang rulers of Qi. They settled at Yingqiu, and within eight generations the lineage achieved supreme power. This directly references Chen Jingzhong (Chen Wan), a minister who fled the state of Chen to Qi around 672 BC. His descendants, the Tian clan, gradually accumulated influence until they formally replaced the Jiang rulers of Qi in 386 BC. From Difficulty at the Beginning to Biting Through, the transformation applies judicial force: fire and thunder together symbolize law and punishment cutting through obstruction, just as the Tian clan's patient accumulation of power finally bit through the old order.
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