晉 → 中孚

Commentary

Fire rises above the earth, but the merchandise on offer is worthless — worn-out cattle and broken-down horses brought to market. The transaction yields no profit, and nothing pleases. The verse depicts commercial failure at its most basic: the goods are damaged before they reach the buyer, the animals too decrepit to serve. No one delights in purchasing another's castoffs. From Progress to Inner Truth, the transformation offers a devastating critique. Wind above the lake — the hexagram of sincerity that moves even pigs and fishes. Yet here the market transaction is the opposite of inner truth: selling damaged goods implies deception, and the buyer's dissatisfaction signals that the falsehood has been detected. Where sincerity is absent, no transaction — commercial or human — can succeed.