蹇 → 賁
Hexagram 39: Obstruction → Hexagram 22: Grace
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 5, 6).
Line 1
初六 往蹇來譽。
Six at the beginning means: Going leads to obstructions, Coming meets with praise.
Line 5
九五 大蹇朋來。
Nine in the fifth place means: In the midst of the greatest obstructions, Friends come.
Line 6
上六 往蹇來碩。吉。利見大人。
Six at the top means: Going leads to obstructions, Coming leads to great good fortune. It furthers one to see the great man.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
舉事无成，不利出征。言不可用，眾莫能平。
Undertakings meet with no success; it is not favorable to march forth. Words cannot be heeded; the multitude cannot be pacified.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Water on the mountain stops every initiative dead. Undertakings yield no result, military expeditions fare badly, counsel falls on deaf ears, and the multitude cannot be pacified. The verse is a catalog of comprehensive failure: action fails, force fails, words fail, authority fails. Nothing works when the obstruction is total. From Obstruction to Grace, fire glows at the base of the mountain, illuminating surface beauty while the substance beneath remains dark. Grace is adornment — the appearance of order without its structural foundation. The verse's failures stem from exactly this mismatch: when ornament substitutes for genuine capacity, expeditions collapse and words ring hollow. The mountain remains beautiful while everything built upon it crumbles.
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