咸 → 剝
Hexagram 31: Influence → Hexagram 23: Splitting Apart
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
啞啞笑喜，相與飲酒。長樂行觴，千秋起舞，拜受大福。
Babbling laughter and delight; drinking wine together. In the Hall of Lasting Joy, passing the cup; dancing through a thousand autumns. Bowing, they receive great blessings.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
A lake upon a mountain, and mutual delight overflows. Laughter rings out in happy chorus as companions gather to drink wine together. In the hall of Changle — the 'Eternal Joy' palace of the Han dynasty — goblets are passed and toasts exchanged while dancers whirl through a thousand autumns, and all bow to receive great blessings. The imagery is of courtly celebration at its peak: wine, music, dance, and reciprocal honor. 'A thousand autumns' (千秋) is the traditional toast wishing ten thousand years of life. From Influence to Splitting Apart, the mountain's joyous reception transforms into the mountain resting upon crumbling earth. The feast is magnificent, but the hexagram warns: what sits atop may soon fall. Enjoy the celebration, but know that peak revelry precedes erosion.
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