離 → 需
Hexagram 30: The Clinging Fire → Hexagram 5: Waiting
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 2, 4, 5, 6).
Line 2
六二 黃離。元吉。
Six in the second place means: Yellow light. Supreme good fortune.
Line 4
九四 突如其來如。焚如。死如。棄如。
Nine in the fourth place means: Its coming is sudden; It flames up, dies down, is thrown away.
Line 5
六五 出涕沱若。戚嗟若。吉。
Six in the fifth place means: Tears in floods, sighing and lamenting. Good fortune.
Line 6
上九 王用出征。有嘉。折首。獲匪其醜。无咎。
Nine at the top means: The king uses him to march forth and chastise. Then it is best to kill the leaders And take captive the followers. No blame.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
高木腐巢，漏濕難居，不去甘棠，使我無憂。
High wood, a rotting nest; leaking and damp, hard to dwell in. Not leaving the sweet pear tree; it keeps me free from worry.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Doubled fire meets heaven's clouds: brilliance confronts the necessity of patient waiting. A tall tree's nest has rotted, leaking and damp, impossible to inhabit. Yet one refuses to abandon the sweet pear tree, and so remains free from worry. The 'sweet pear tree' (gan tang) echoes the Shijing ode celebrating the Duke of Shao, who dispensed justice beneath such a tree; the people loved him so much they preserved it after his death. The verse contrasts a ruined shelter with the enduring shade of virtuous governance. From The Clinging to Waiting, fire's exposed clarity seeks the patience of clouds gathering before heaven. Rather than fleeing to false refuges, one shelters under the legacy of good governance and waits for the proper moment.
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