屯 → 革
Hexagram 3: Difficulty at the Beginning → Hexagram 49: Revolution
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 3, 4).
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.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
從容長閒，遊戲南山。拜祠禱神，使神無患。
At ease, with long leisure; wandering and playing on the southern mountain. Bowing at shrines, praying to the spirits; keeping the spirits from harm.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Clouds and thunder yield to lake over fire: initial difficulty transforms into revolutionary calm. At leisure and unhurried, one roams and plays upon the southern hills. Bowing at shrines and praying to the spirits, one ensures that the gods inflict no harm. The verse describes a world where danger has been domesticated through ritual: the worshipper is not fleeing but strolling, not desperate but devotional. From Difficulty at the Beginning to Revolution, fire within the lake signals radical transformation, yet the scene is serene. Ge's revolution here is not violent upheaval but the quiet replacement of anxiety with trust. The initial chaos of Zhun has been so thoroughly reformed that its former turbulence survives only as the occasion for grateful worship. Revolution need not be violent; sometimes it is simply the moment when fear gives way to peace.
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