大壯 → 革
Hexagram 34: Great Power → Hexagram 49: Revolution
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 2, 5).
Line 2
九二 貞吉。
Nine in the second place means: Perseverance brings good fortune.
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
舉袂覆目，不見日月，衣衾杖机，就其夜室。
Raising the sleeve to cover the eyes; he sees neither sun nor moon. Quilts, staff, and table at hand; he retires to his night chamber.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder above heaven retreats behind a sleeve raised to cover the eyes. One sees neither sun nor moon, wrapped in quilts, leaning on a stool, withdrawing into the night chamber. The imagery is of total withdrawal from the world — whether in mourning, illness, or political exile, the subject shuts out all light and retreats into darkness. From Great Power to Revolution, fire burns within the lake in Ge: the old order must be overturned to make way for the new. The transformation reveals the paradox of revolutionary change: before the new calendar can be established, one must first enter absolute darkness. The sleeve covering the eyes is not defeat but the necessary blindness that precedes transformation — the chrysalis stage before emergence.
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