晉 → 噬嗑
Hexagram 35: Progress → Hexagram 21: Biting Through
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 1 changing line (line 1).
Line 1
初六 晉如摧如。貞吉。罔孚。裕无咎。
Six at the beginning means: Progressing, but turned back. Perseverance brings good fortune. If one meets with no confidence, one should remain calm. No mistake.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
大尾小頭，重不可搖。上弱下強，陰制其雄。
Thick roots, thin branches — fruit struggles to form. Wide foundation, narrow tower — unstable in the wind. The servant holds the seal while the master kneels — wielding a weapon backwards, handing the handle to another.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Fire rises above the earth, but the original verse reveals a structural inversion: 'A large tail and small head, too heavy to move. The lower part is strong while the upper is weak — yin dominates and controls the male.' This echoes the classical warning 'tail too large to wag' from the Zuo Zhuan: when subordinate power outgrows the center, the hierarchy collapses. The servant holds the seal while the master kneels — authority has been completely inverted. From Progress to Biting Through, the transformation prescribes the remedy. Fire and thunder together create the image of judicial force: lightning illuminates wrongdoing and thunder enforces punishment. When the natural order is inverted, only decisive corrective action — biting through the obstruction — can restore proper hierarchy.
The Six Lines app includes all 4,096 Yilin verses, each with original ink brush artwork and full commentary. Download on the App Store