家人 → 漸
Hexagram 37: The Family → Hexagram 53: Development
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 1 changing line (line 1).
Line 1
初九 閑有家。悔亡。
Nine at the beginning means: Firm seclusion within the family. Remorse disappears.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
執斧破薪，使媒求婦。和合二姓，親御斯酒。居比鄰里，姑公悅喜。
He takes up the axe and splits firewood, sends a matchmaker to seek a bride. The two surnames are joined in harmony, toasting together over this wine. They dwell beside their neighbors; father-in-law and mother-in-law rejoice.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Wind from fire warms the family with the joy of a new union. Taking an axe to split firewood — the Shijing image of preparing for marriage — and sending a matchmaker to seek a bride. Two surnames are harmonized and joined; together they drink the nuptial wine. They settle as neighbors in the community, and the parents-in-law are delighted. Every element follows proper ritual sequence: the woodcutting that announces intention, the matchmaker who mediates, the shared wine that seals the union, and the communal integration that completes it. From The Family to Development, wood grows gradually atop the mountain, rising step by step. Development is the hexagram of proper marriage protocol — the wild goose advances methodically. This wedding embodies that patient, staged progression from courtship to settled domestic harmony.
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