恆 → 觀
Hexagram 32: Duration → Hexagram 20: Contemplation
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 5 changing lines (lines 2, 3, 4, 5, 6).
Line 2
九二 悔亡。
Nine in the second place means: Remorse disappears.
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 4
九四 田无禽。
Nine in the fourth place means: No game in the field.
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
然諾不行，欺天誤人，使我靈宿，夜歸溫室。
Promises made but not kept; deceiving heaven, misleading men. It sends my spirit to wander in the night; returning to the warm chamber.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder above wind, Duration's dependable rhythm, rises into wind above earth — Contemplation's sweeping overview. Promises are made but never kept; heaven is deceived and people are misled. The spirit is forced to spend the night away from home, returning only to the warm chamber after dark. Duration's cardinal virtue is constancy, and broken promises are its direct negation. The verse describes a world where words lack substance: commitments are spoken but never enacted, corroding trust at the most fundamental level. From Duration to Contemplation, the wind sweeps over the earth surveying all — and what it sees is universal dishonesty. The displaced spirit, wandering homeless because promises were hollow, captures the displacement that follows when enduring bonds are betrayed.
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