恆 → 漸
Hexagram 32: Duration → Hexagram 53: Development
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 2, 4, 5, 6).
Line 2
九二 悔亡。
Nine in the second place means: Remorse disappears.
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
蒼耳東從,道頓跂踦,日辰不良,病為祟禍。
Cockleburs follow from the east; the road is blocked and the gait halting. The day and hour are inauspicious; illness becomes a haunting curse.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder above wind, Duration's rhythmic advance, slows into wind above mountain — Development's gradual progression. Cockleburs cling to clothing as one heads east; the path is rugged and stumbling. The day's stars are inauspicious; illness is attributed to spiritual affliction. Cockleburs (蒼耳) are weeds that hook onto anything passing through, impeding forward motion with their persistent attachment. The stumbling gait and unfavorable astrological signs compound into a picture of frustrated advance. From Duration to Development, the enduring motion should refine into steady, step-by-step progress. But the verse shows development arrested: the gradual path is choked with clinging thorns, the heavens are misaligned, and what should be slow improvement becomes slow deterioration. Duration's momentum meets Development's demand for patience, and the result is a standstill.
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