咸 → 謙
Hexagram 31: Influence → Hexagram 15: Modesty
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 4, 5).
Line 4
九四 貞吉悔亡。憧憧往來。朋從爾思。
Nine in the fourth place means: Perseverance brings good fortune. Remorse disappears. If a man is agitated in mind, And his thoughts go hither and thither, Only those friends On whom he fixes his conscious thoughts Will follow.
Line 5
九五 咸其脢。无悔。
Nine in the fifth place means: The influence shows itself in the back of the neck. No remorse.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
王孫季子，相與為友，明允篤誠，升擢薦舉。
Prince and young lord; they become friends with one another. Bright, sincere, earnest and true; promoted and recommended together.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
A lake upon a mountain: openness draws kindred spirits together. A royal scion and a younger nobleman become fast friends, bound by bright sincerity and deep trust. Through their companionship, both are promoted and recommended to higher service. The phrase 'clear and trustworthy, earnest and sincere' (明允篤誠) describes the quality of their bond — not political expedience but genuine moral affinity. From Influence to Modesty, the mountain's receptive lake transforms into the mountain hidden within the earth: greatness concealed beneath humility. Their friendship embodies the modesty hexagram's ethic of leveling what is high and raising what is low. Mutual recognition between the worthy, offered without self-promotion, becomes the very mechanism by which talent rises.
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