家人

Hexagram 37: The Family → Hexagram 57: The Gentle Wind

家人
The Family
Wind / Fire
The Gentle Wind
Wind / Wind
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 1, 2).

Line 1

初九 閑有家。悔亡。

xiándiscipline
yǒuhold
jiā(a
huǐregret(s)
wángpass

Nine at the beginning means: Firm seclusion within the family. Remorse disappears.

Line 2

六二 无攸遂。在中饋。貞吉。

(having) no
yōucause
suìto pursue
zàiremain
zhōnginside
kuìmaking
zhēnpersistence
(is) promising

Six in the second place means: She should not follow her whims. She must attend within to the food. Perseverance brings good fortune.

Trigram Changes

Upper TrigramWind Wind
Lower TrigramFire WindThe Clinging → The Gentle

Yilin Verse

孩子貪餌,為利所悅。探把釜甑,爛其臂手。

The child, greedy for a treat, is tempted by what pleases. He reaches into the cauldron and the pot; it scalds his arms and hands.

— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE

Commentary

Wind from fire warms the family hearth, but a child drawn by the smell of cooking reaches into the cauldron and scalds both arms. The little one, greedy for a treat and delighted by the prospect of gain, plunges hands into the boiling pot — and is badly burned. The scene is domestic and visceral: the very warmth that sustains the household becomes a source of injury when approached without caution. The child's impulsiveness turns nourishment into harm. From The Family to The Gentle, doubled wind penetrates gradually through repeated influence. The Gentle's method is the opposite of the child's grab: patient, incremental, never forcing. The burned hands teach that what the family's fire provides must be received with care and respect, not snatched at greedily.

The Six Lines app includes all 4,096 Yilin verses, each with original ink brush artwork and full commentary. Download on the App Store

Related Pages