蹇 → 坎
Hexagram 39: Obstruction → Hexagram 29: The Abysmal Water
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 2, 3).
Line 2
六二 王臣蹇蹇。匪躬之故。
Six in the second place means: The King's servant is beset by obstruction upon obstruction, But it is not his own fault.
Line 3
九三 往蹇來反。
Nine in the third place means: Going leads to obstructions; Hence he comes back.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
跛踦相隨，日暮牛罷。陵遲後旅，失利亡雌。
Fog locks the mountainside; the stone path breaks off entirely. Ahead, a deep chasm — behind, nothing to lean on.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Water on the mountain doubles into water upon water, and this verse (a rewrite) must be read through the original: 'The lame and crippled follow one another, by sunset the ox is spent. Trailing behind the caravan, they lose their profit and their mate.' The original describes a group of disabled travelers falling further and further behind a caravan as daylight fades. The ox is exhausted, the pace slows, and what they hoped to gain — trade profit, companionship — slips away. From Obstruction to The Abysmal, water upon mountain becomes water upon water, danger doubled. The transformation deepens rather than resolves the difficulty: the lame do not find level ground but another abyss. This is the Yilin's starkest warning that some obstructions lead not to liberation but to deeper peril, and the only wisdom is to recognize the danger before committing further.
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