屯 → 師
Hexagram 3: Difficulty at the Beginning → Hexagram 7: The Army
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 5).
Line 1
初九 磐桓。利居貞。利建侯。
Nine at the beginning means: Hesitation and hindrance. It furthers one to remain persevering. It furthers one to appoint helpers.
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 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
李梅冬實，國多盜賊。擾亂並作，君不能息。
Plum and pear fruit in winter; the land is full of thieves and bandits. Turmoil rises on every side; the lord cannot put it to rest.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Clouds and thunder give way to water hidden within the earth: initial difficulty calls for disciplined response. Plum and apricot trees bear fruit in winter, an unnatural omen signaling that the state swarms with bandits and thieves. Disorder erupts on all sides, and the ruler cannot restore peace. When trees fruit out of season, the natural order has inverted; such portents in Han-dynasty omenology signal governance gone deeply wrong. From Difficulty at the Beginning to The Army, the transformation demands that chaotic energy be organized into structured force. Earth containing water is the image of the masses held in reserve, but here the ruler fails to marshal that potential, and disorder metastasizes unchecked.
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