大壯 → 臨
Hexagram 34: Great Power → Hexagram 19: Approach
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 3, 4).
Line 3
九三 小人用壯。君子用罔。貞厲。羝羊觸藩。羸其角。
Nine in the third place means: The inferior man works through power. The superior man does not act thus. To continue is dangerous. A goat butts against a hedge And gets its horns entangled.
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
載日精光，驂駕六龍，祿命徹天，封為燕王。
Bearing the sun's brilliant light, riding a carriage drawn by six dragons. Fortune and destiny reach to heaven; enfeoffed as King of Yan.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder above heaven carries the sun's radiance, with six dragons harnessed to the celestial chariot. The imagery draws from the I-Ching's own Creative hexagram: 'Time-riding on six dragons to patrol the heavens.' Fortune and mandate pierce through to heaven itself, and the reward is a kingship — 'enfeoffed as King of Yan.' This likely references an early Han enfeoffment, when meritorious generals received kingdoms. From Great Power to Approach, earth rests above lake in Lin, the image of authority drawing near to the people. The transformation captures how celestial mandate descends to earthly governance: the dragon-rider who commands heaven's brilliance now approaches the realm below, teaching without limit and sheltering the people without boundary.
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