屯 → 歸妹
Hexagram 3: Difficulty at the Beginning → Hexagram 54: The Marrying Maiden
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 2, 4, 5).
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 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.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
樹我藿豆，鹿兔為食。君不恤護，秋無收入。
I plant my beans and greens; deer and rabbits eat them all. The lord does not care or protect; autumn brings no harvest.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Clouds and thunder yield to thunder above lake: initial difficulty enters the compromised position of the Marrying Maiden. Beans and greens are planted, but deer and rabbits devour them. The lord does not protect or tend the crop, and autumn brings no harvest. The farmer's labor is consumed by wildlife because no one guards the field. From Difficulty at the Beginning to the Marrying Maiden, the transformation carries a warning about subordinate positions. Gui Mei represents entering a relationship where one lacks full authority; the maiden must endure what she cannot control. The unguarded field is the maiden's situation: she invests effort, but the fruits belong to others. The deer eat freely because no sovereign takes responsibility, and the autumn emptiness confirms that devotion without protection is squandered devotion.
The Six Lines app includes all 4,096 Yilin verses, each with original ink brush artwork and full commentary. Download on the App Store