大壯 → 屯
Hexagram 34: Great Power → Hexagram 3: Difficulty at the Beginning
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 2, 3, 4, 5).
Line 2
九二 貞吉。
Nine in the second place means: Perseverance brings good fortune.
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.
Line 5
六五 喪羊于易。无悔。
Six in the fifth place means: Loses the goat with ease. No remorse.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
獮猴冠帶，盜載非位，眾犬嘈吠，狂走厥足。
A monkey in cap and sash; a thief bearing what is not his station. A pack of dogs bark and bay; he bolts in mad flight on frantic feet.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder crashes above heaven, but a monkey in official robes makes a mockery of power. The verse invokes the proverb of the 'monkey in cap and sash' — a creature dressed in authority it cannot comprehend. Bandits ride in carriages meant for ministers, occupying positions they have no right to hold. The dogs of the neighborhood bark furiously at the imposture, and the pretender runs until his feet give out. From Great Power to Difficulty at the Beginning, the transformation captures precisely this mismatch: raw force thrust into a situation that demands patient cultivation. Water gathers above thunder in Zhun, signaling the chaos of a new order struggling to coalesce. Strength without legitimacy breeds not progress but pandemonium.
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