家人 → 井
Hexagram 37: The Family → Hexagram 48: The Well
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 6).
Line 1
初九 閑有家。悔亡。
Nine at the beginning means: Firm seclusion within the family. Remorse disappears.
Line 2
六二 无攸遂。在中饋。貞吉。
Six in the second place means: She should not follow her whims. She must attend within to the food. Perseverance brings good fortune.
Line 6
上九 有孚威如。終吉。
Nine at the top means: His work commands respect. In the end good fortune comes.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
張牙反目,怒齚作怒。狂馬燒犬,道驚傷軫。
Baring fangs, rolling eyes, gnashing teeth in fury. A maddened horse, a scalded dog; the road is startled, the axle shattered.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Wind from fire should warm the family, but here the household erupts in animal fury. Bared fangs and glaring eyes, teeth clenched in rage — the image is of a domestic quarrel turned savage. A maddened horse and a scorched dog panic on the road, startling and damaging the carriage. The verse piles violent images: snapping jaws, crazed animals, broken wheels. What should be a stable household has become a menagerie of uncontrolled aggression. From The Family to The Well, water rises through wood as the community's shared resource nourishes all. The Well requires calm, methodical drawing of water; this verse shows the opposite — chaos that muddies the well and breaks the bucket. When domestic fury contaminates the source of communal sustenance, everyone goes thirsty.
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