屯 → 小畜
Hexagram 3: Difficulty at the Beginning → Hexagram 9: Small Taming
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 2, 3, 6).
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 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 6
上六 乘馬班如。泣血漣如。
Six at the top means: Horse and wagon part. Bloody tears flow.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
夾河為婚，期至無船。淫心失望，不見所歡。
A marriage arranged across the river; the date arrives but there is no boat. Longing desire is disappointed; the beloved is never seen.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Clouds and thunder strain against wind moving across heaven: initial difficulty encounters gentle restraint that cannot hold. A marriage is arranged across the river, but when the appointed day arrives there is no boat. Desire is thwarted, and the longed-for beloved never appears. The river as impassable barrier between lovers is one of the oldest motifs in Chinese poetry. From Difficulty at the Beginning to Small Taming, the transformation reveals a mismatch of force and means. Wind above heaven exerts only gentle influence, too delicate to overcome Zhun's raw obstacles. The bride cannot cross because the restraining power is insufficient; longing intensifies but the practical means of union remain absent.
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