咸 → 師
Hexagram 31: Influence → Hexagram 7: The Army
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 2, 3, 4, 5).
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 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
梁破橋壞，水深多畏，陳鄭之間，絕不得前。
The beam breaks, the bridge collapses; the water runs deep and fearsome. Between Chen and Zheng; the way is cut, none can advance.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
A lake upon a mountain, but the passage below has been severed. Bridge beams are broken, the span collapses, and the water runs deep and terrifying. Between Chen and Zheng — two states that historically vied for territory along their shared border — the road is cut and no one can advance. The verse evokes a specific strategic geography: the region between Chen and Zheng was a contested corridor, and a broken bridge here meant isolation and military paralysis. From Influence to the Army, mutual feeling transforms into the disciplined masses concealed within the earth. Water hidden beneath earth suggests forces held in reserve, but the broken bridge means those forces cannot be deployed. The army is present yet immobilized — a disciplined response frustrated by severed lines of communication.
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