Hexagram 38: Opposition → Hexagram 46: Pushing Upward

Opposition
Fire / Lake
Pushing Upward
Earth / Wind
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 4, 6).

Line 1

初九 悔亡。喪馬勿逐自復。見惡人。无咎。

huǐregret(s)
wángpass
sàng(a
horse
do not
zhú(be) pursue
(and) of
(it) returns
jiàn(to
è(the) evil
rén(in) people
is not
jiùto blame

Nine at the beginning means: Remorse disappears. If you lose your horse, do not run after it; It will come back of its own accord. When you see evil people, Guard yourself against mistakes.

Line 3

六三 見輿曳。其牛掣。其人天且劓。无初有終。

jiànseeing
輿(a
(being) held up
its
niúoxen
chèhindered
its
rénoccupant's
tiānhead shaved (bald to heaven)
qiěand (even
(his
regardless of
chū(a
yǒu(but) there is
zhōng(a

Six in the third place means: One sees the wagon dragged back, The oxen halted, A man's hair and nose cut off. Not a good beginning, but a good end.

Line 4

九四 睽孤。遇元夫。交孚。厲无咎。

kuíestranged
(and) (all) alone
meet
yuán(a
(gentle)man
jiāoexchange
(in
(the) difficulty
(is) not
jiù(a) wrong(ness)

Nine in the fourth place means: Isolated through opposition, One meets a like-minded man With whom one can associate in good faith. Despite the danger, no blame.

Line 6

上九 睽孤。見豕負塗。載鬼一車。先張之弧。後說之弧。匪寇婚媾。往遇雨則吉。

kuíestranged
(and) (all) alone
jiànseeing
shǐ(a) pig
covered
filth
zàihaul
guǐdemons
(and
chēwagon
xiān(at) first
zhāngstretch
zhīhis
(long)bow
hòu(and
shuōrelaxing
zhīhis
(long)bow
fěiit
kòu(a
hūn(but) (a) marital
gòusuitor
wǎngin going
greet
(the) rain
(and
promising

Nine at the top means: Isolated through opposition, One sees one's companion as a pig covered with dirt, As a wagon full of devils. First one draws a bow against him, then one lays the bow aside. He is not a robber; he will woo at the right time. As one goes, rain falls; then good fortune comes.

Trigram Changes

Upper TrigramFire EarthThe Clinging → The Receptive
Lower TrigramLake WindThe Joyous → The Gentle

Yilin Verse

老狐屈尾,東西為鬼。病我長女,坐涕詘指。或西或東,大華易誘。

The old fox curls its tail; east and west it becomes a ghost. It sickens my eldest daughter; she sits weeping, bending her fingers. Wandering west or east; the great flower is easily enticed.

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

Commentary

Fire above the lake, and an old fox curls its tail, wandering east and west as a ghost. It afflicts the eldest daughter with illness, leaving her weeping and wringing her fingers. The fox drifts westward then eastward, easily swayed and impossible to pin down — its restless haunting embodies Opposition's inability to settle. The 'great Hua' mentioned may refer to Mount Hua or a figure of allure who tempts one astray. From Opposition to Pushing Upward, wood grows within the earth, rising incrementally through steady accumulation. The transformation from spectral wandering to organic growth suggests that the fox's aimless drifting can only be cured by rooting oneself in one place and growing slowly upward — patient, vertical, committed to the ground beneath.

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