大壯 → 中孚
Hexagram 34: Great Power → Hexagram 61: Inner Truth
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 3, 4, 5, 6).
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.
Line 6
上六 羝羊觸藩。不能退。不能遂。无攸利。艱則吉。
Six at the top means: A goat butts against a hedge. It cannot go backward, it cannot go forward. Nothing serves to further. If one notes the difficulty, this brings good fortune.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
求君衣裳,情不可當,觸諱西行,為伯生殃。君之上歡,得其安存。
Seeking the lord's robes; the feeling cannot be borne. Touching taboo, going west; for the elder it brings calamity. When the lord above is pleased, one finds peace and survival.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder above heaven sends a petitioner seeking the lord's robes — emotions running too high to contain. But the request touches a taboo, and the westward journey brings disaster upon the elder brother. Then the verse pivots: the lord's highest favor arrives, and security is restored. The emotional arc moves from desperate appeal through transgression to eventual grace. 'Seeking the lord's garments' suggests a plea for recognition or investiture, while 'touching a taboo' implies overstepping protocol. From Great Power to Inner Truth, wind moves above the lake in Zhongfu: the sage deliberates on judicial matters and delays execution. The transformation reveals that sincere petition, even when it stumbles against propriety, may ultimately reach the truth if the petitioner's heart is genuine.
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