Hexagram 38: Opposition → Hexagram 57: The Gentle Wind

Opposition
Fire / Lake
The Gentle Wind
Wind / Wind
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 4, 5).

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 5

六五 悔亡。厥宗噬膚。往何咎。

huǐregret(s)
wángpass
juéits
zōngkind
shìeat
(soft
wǎng(in) going
where is
jiù(the) blame

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?

Trigram Changes

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

Yilin Verse

積水不溫,北陸苦寒。露宿多風,君子傷心。

Stagnant water gives no warmth; the northern lands are bitterly cold. Sleeping exposed to wind; the gentleman is pained at heart.

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

Commentary

Fire above the lake, yet all warmth has been leached away. Stagnant water refuses to warm; the northern continent is locked in bitter cold. One sleeps in the open, battered by wind, and the gentleman's heart aches with sorrow. The verse systematically cancels every comfort: water that should sustain is frigid, shelter is absent, wind assaults the exposed sleeper, and even the 'gentleman' — the ideal figure of composure — cannot maintain his equanimity. From Opposition to The Gentle, doubled wind, the gentleman issues commands and carries out affairs. The transformation from frozen exposure to penetrating wind suggests that the Gentle's soft persistence can eventually permeate even frozen terrain — but only if one survives the night. The cold here is existential, not seasonal.

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