恆 → 履
Hexagram 32: Duration → Hexagram 10: Treading
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 5, 6).
Line 1
初六 浚恆貞凶。无攸利。
Six at the beginning means: Seeking duration too hastily brings misfortune persistently. Nothing that would further.
Line 3
九三 不恆其德。或承之羞。貞吝。
Nine in the third place means: He who does not give duration to his character Meets with disgrace. Persistent humiliation.
Line 5
六五 恒其德貞。婦人吉。夫子凶。
Six in the fifth place means: Giving duration to one's character through perseverance. This is good fortune for a woman, misfortune for a man.
Line 6
上六 振恆凶。
Six at the top means: Restlessness as an enduring condition brings misfortune.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
北陸陽伏，不知白黑，君子傷讒，正害善人。
On the northern ridge the yang lies hidden; one cannot tell white from black. The noble man is wounded by slander; the upright are harmed by the just.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder above wind — Duration's steady course — yields to heaven above lake, Treading's careful discernment of rank and propriety. In the northern darkness, yang lies buried and concealed; one cannot tell white from black. The gentleman is wounded by slander, and the upright are harmed by those in power. The 'northern darkness' (北陸) is the celestial position where the sun retreats in winter — yang at its weakest, buried beneath yin. In such conditions, moral clarity vanishes: the righteous cannot be distinguished from the wicked. From Duration to Treading, the steady rhythm that should sustain order confronts a world where proper distinctions have collapsed. Treading upon the tiger's tail requires knowing where to step, but in the northern darkness no path is visible.
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