大壯 → 井
Hexagram 34: Great Power → Hexagram 48: The Well
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 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 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
鰥寡孤獨，福祿苦薄，入室無妻，武子哀悲。
Widowed, orphaned, alone; blessings and fortune bitterly thin. Entering the house, there is no wife; Master Wu grieves in sorrow.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder above heaven exposes the desolation of one who has lost everything: widowed, orphaned, alone, bereft of fortune and blessing. Entering the chamber, there is no wife. 'Master Wu' grieves in sorrow — possibly a reference to a historical figure whose domestic life collapsed despite public stature. The inventory of loss — no spouse, no kin, no luck — strips the subject to bare existence. From Great Power to the Well, water drawn up through wood in Jing represents the communal resource that nourishes all equally. The transformation is poignant: the Well serves everyone, yet this person has no one to draw water for. Power without connection to community cannot access the sustenance that the Well provides. Solitude is the deepest poverty.
The Six Lines app includes all 4,096 Yilin verses, each with original ink brush artwork and full commentary. Download on the App Store