咸 → 漸
Hexagram 31: Influence → Hexagram 53: Development
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 4, 6).
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 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
駕車入里,求鮮魴鯉,非其肆居,自令失市。君子所在,安無危咎。
Driving a cart into the village; seeking fresh bream and carp. Not where they keep their market; bringing the loss of trade upon oneself. Where the gentleman resides; peace reigns, no harm or blame.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
A lake upon a mountain, and a merchant drives his cart into the wrong neighborhood. He enters the village seeking fresh bream and carp, but this is not the proper market district, and he loses his trade entirely. Then a pivot: where the gentleman dwells, there is peace and no danger. The verse contrasts misplaced effort with proper placement. The fishmonger in the wrong lane cannot sell no matter how fine his wares; the gentleman in the right position radiates stability by his mere presence. From Influence to Development, the mountain's receptive openness becomes wind above the mountain — the gradual, tree-like growth of the well-placed. Development's key insight is that progress must follow a natural, step-by-step sequence. The merchant who skips the proper market disrupts that sequence; the gentleman who remains in his proper place exemplifies it.
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