睽 → 需
Hexagram 38: Opposition → Hexagram 5: Waiting
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 3, 4, 5, 6).
Line 3
六三 見輿曳。其牛掣。其人天且劓。无初有終。
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。
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 5
六五 悔亡。厥宗噬膚。往何咎。
Six in the fifth place means: Remorse disappears. The companion bites his way through the wrappings. If one goes to him, How could it be a mistake?
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。
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
Yilin Verse
老狼白驢，長尾大狐，前顛卻躓，進退遇祟。
Old wolf, white donkey; long-tailed great fox. Stumbling forward, tripping back; advance and retreat alike meet with misfortune.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Fire above the lake, two forces at odds, and through the gap shamble grotesque beasts: an old wolf, a white donkey, a long-tailed fox. They stumble forward and trip backward, cursed at every turn by malign spirits. The verse paints a procession of awkward, duplicitous creatures unable to find their footing — each associated in Han symbolism with cunning and misfortune. From Opposition to Waiting, the estranged energies shift to clouds gathering above heaven, a posture of enforced patience. These clumsy creatures cannot barge through; the way forward demands stillness and composure. Yet for beings so constitutionally ill-suited to waiting, patience itself becomes another form of torment.
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