屯 → 兌
Hexagram 3: Difficulty at the Beginning → Hexagram 58: The Joyous Lake
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 2, 4).
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.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
道路僻除，南至東遼。衛子善辭，使國無憂。
The roads are cleared and repaired, south to eastern Liao. The son of Wei speaks well; he keeps the state from worry.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Clouds and thunder transform into doubled lake: initial difficulty resolves into shared joy. The road is cleared and opened, running south to the eastern frontier. The heir of Wei, skilled in diplomatic speech, ensures the state knows no trouble. The verse celebrates competent diplomacy: a road cleared is a connection restored, and a silver-tongued envoy prevents conflict before it begins. 'Wei's heir' may reference the Viscount of Wei (Weizi), who knew when to speak and when to withdraw, saving his integrity under the corrupt Shang court. From Difficulty at the Beginning to The Joyous, paired lakes represent friends sharing knowledge through discourse. The initial tangle is undone not by force but by eloquence: the right words, spoken at the right time, transform obstruction into open road and hostility into peace.
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