家人小畜

Hexagram 37: The Family → Hexagram 9: Small Taming

家人
The Family
Wind / Fire
小畜
Small Taming
Wind / Heaven
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 1 changing line (line 2).

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 HeavenThe Clinging → The Creative

Yilin Verse

杲杲白日,為月所食。損上毀下,鄭昭出走。

The bright sun blazing white, devoured by the moon. The superior harmed, the inferior ruined; Duke Zhao of Zheng flees.

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

Commentary

Wind from fire lights the family hearth, but a solar eclipse darkens the brilliant sun. The radiant daylight is consumed by the moon — what should illuminate is swallowed by shadow. Those above are diminished, those below ruined, and Duke Zhao of Zheng is forced to flee. According to the Zuo Zhuan, the powerful minister Zhai Zhong, coerced by the state of Song, deposed the legitimate ruler Zheng Hu and installed a rival. The eclipse becomes a metaphor for usurpation: when the proper light of authority is blocked, the entire household order collapses. From The Family to Small Taming, wind rides above heaven — a gentle restraining force. Yet here that restraint fails catastrophically; the small force meant to temper strength instead eclipses it entirely.

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