Hexagram 3: Difficulty at the Beginning → Hexagram 42: Increase

Difficulty at the Beginning
Water / Thunder
Increase
Wind / Thunder
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 1 changing line (line 6).

Line 6

上六 乘馬班如。泣血漣如。

chénga team of four
horses
bānarrayed
alike
tears
xuèof blood
liánflowing
as if

Six at the top means: Horse and wagon part. Bloody tears flow.

Trigram Changes

Upper TrigramWater WindThe Deep → The Gentle
Lower TrigramThunder Thunder

Yilin Verse

水戴船舟,無根以浮。往往溶溶,心勞且憂。

Water carries the boat; rootless, it floats. Drifting on and on; the heart labors and is full of worry.

— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE

Commentary

Clouds and thunder give way to wind and thunder together: initial difficulty opens into the promise of increase, yet anxiety persists. Water carries the boat, but the vessel has no anchor and drifts aimlessly. The current flows on and on, and the heart labors with worry. The boat floats because water supports it, yet without root or rudder it merely wanders. From Difficulty at the Beginning to Increase, wind above thunder should multiply and enrich, but the verse reveals that increase without direction is merely drift. The resources are present — water, boat, current — but no guiding principle organizes them. The traveler gains motion without destination, freedom without purpose, and the heart's anxiety confirms that aimless increase is no blessing at all.

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