大壯 → 謙
Hexagram 34: Great Power → Hexagram 15: Modesty
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 4).
Line 1
初九 壯于趾。征凶有孚。
Nine at the beginning means: Power in the toes. Continuing brings misfortune. This is certainly true.
Line 2
九二 貞吉。
Nine in the second place means: Perseverance brings good fortune.
Line 4
九四 貞吉。悔亡。藩決不羸。壯于大輿之輹。
Nine in the fourth place means: Perseverance brings good fortune. Remorse disappears. The hedge opens; there is no entanglement. Power depends upon the axle of a big cart.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
驄𩦞黑𩭳，東歸高鄉，白虎推輪，蒼龍把衡，遂至夷傷，不離咎殃。
A dappled horse with black mane gallops east toward the highland. White Tiger pushes the wheel; Azure Dragon grasps the crossbar. At last they meet with wound and ruin; they do not escape calamity.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder over heaven sends a dappled stallion with dark mane galloping eastward toward the highlands. The White Tiger pushes the wheel and the Azure Dragon grasps the crossbar — two of the Four Celestial Symbols yoked to a single chariot, cosmic forces deployed in tandem. Yet despite this magnificent equipage, the journey ends in injury and blame. From Great Power to Modesty, the mountain hidden within the earth in Qian represents the antithesis of this display. The verse warns that even when one commands heaven's own guardians, flaunting such power invites disaster. The destination demanded humility; instead, the rider arrived with celestial pomp, and the mismatch between force and occasion proved ruinous.
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