晉 → 无妄
Hexagram 35: Progress → Hexagram 25: Innocence
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 1, 5).
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.
Line 5
六五 悔亡。失得勿恤。往吉无不利。
Six in the fifth place means: Remorse disappears. Take not gain and loss to heart. Undertakings bring good fortune. Everything serves to further.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
陰陽隔塞,許嫁不荅,宛丘新臺,悔往歎息。
Yin and yang are blocked and divided; the marriage promise goes unanswered. The mound of Wan, the tower of Xin — she looks back with regret and sighs.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Fire rises above the earth, but yin and yang are blocked from meeting. A marriage is promised but goes unanswered. The verse then names two Shijing allusions: 'Wan Qiu' from the Airs of Chen, about frivolous dancing on the hilltop, and 'Xin Tai' from the Airs of Bei, about Duke Xuan of Wei who built a new terrace to intercept his own son's bride. Both poems satirize rulers whose desire corrupted proper unions. The result: regret and sighing over what went wrong. From Progress to Innocence, the transformation deepens the irony. Heaven's thunder moving below should mean natural, unspoiled action — yet here every natural bond has been perverted. When those in power manipulate unions for selfish ends, even heaven's innocence cannot heal the breach.
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