咸 → 睽
Hexagram 31: Influence → Hexagram 38: Opposition
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 5 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 5, 6).
Line 1
初六 咸其拇。
Six at the beginning means: The influence shows itself in the big toe.
Line 2
六二 咸其腓。凶。居吉。
Six in the second place means: The influence shows itself in the calves of the legs. Misfortune. Tarrying brings good fortune.
Line 3
九三 咸其股。執其隨。往吝。
Nine in the third place means: The influence shows itself in the thighs. Holds to that which follows it. To continue is humiliating.
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.
Line 6
上六 咸其輔頰舌。
Six at the top means: The influence shows itself in the jaws, cheeks, and tongue.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
出門上堂，從容牖房，不失其常，天牢北戶，勞者憂苦。
Going out the door, ascending the hall; composed, passing by the window and room. Not losing the proper way; yet heaven's prison faces north. The laborer endures sorrow and hardship.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
A lake upon a mountain, and the scene unfolds in two contrasting registers. First, composure: one steps out the door, enters the hall, passes leisurely through the windowed chamber, maintaining proper decorum throughout. Then confinement: the celestial prison faces north, and those who labor within it suffer in anguish. The 'Tianlao' (天牢) — the 'Heaven Jail' — was both a constellation name and a metaphor for imprisonment. The juxtaposition is between freedom exercised with grace and captivity endured in misery. From Influence to Opposition, the mountain's open receptivity becomes fire above and lake below — heat rising while moisture sinks, two elements that see each other but cannot merge. The verse embodies Opposition's essence: parallel existences, one free and one confined, visible to each other yet irreconcilable.
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