大壯 → 蹇
Hexagram 34: Great Power → Hexagram 39: Obstruction
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 4, 5).
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.
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
穿空相宜，利倍我北，循邪詭道，逃不可得，南北望邑，遂歸入室。
Threading empty spaces, finding advantage; profit doubled to the north. Following devious and crooked paths; escape cannot be had. Looking north and south at the town; at last one returns and enters the house.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder above heaven opens a passage through the void — a profitable route to the north. But those who follow crooked and deviant paths find escape impossible. The verse juxtaposes legitimate advantage with illicit scheming: the straight path yields double profit, while the deceitful path leads to capture. Looking north and south at the towns, one finally abandons flight and returns home. From Great Power to Obstruction, water sits atop the mountain in Jian: the path forward is blocked, and the sage turns inward to cultivate virtue. The transformation reveals that when honest routes are available, those who choose deception encounter the very obstruction they tried to circumvent. The verse resolves with return — the fugitive accepts limitation and goes home.
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