蹇 → 睽
Hexagram 39: Obstruction → Hexagram 38: Opposition
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 6 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6).
Line 1
初六 往蹇來譽。
Six at the beginning means: Going leads to obstructions, Coming meets with praise.
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.
Line 4
六四 往蹇來連。
Six in the fourth place means: Going leads to obstructions, Coming leads to union.
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
東耕破犂，西失良妻。災害不避，家貧无資。
Plowing east, the plow breaks; in the west, a good wife is lost. Disaster and harm are not avoided; the family is poor and without means.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Water on the mountain ruins every endeavor on both fronts. Plowing the eastern field breaks the plow; in the west, a good wife is lost. Disaster cannot be avoided, and the household falls into poverty with nothing left. The verse distributes calamity across all domains — livelihood (the broken plow), family (the lost wife), security (unavoidable disaster), and resources (empty coffers). From Obstruction to Opposition, fire rises above the lake as two forces that should complement each other instead diverge. Opposition is estrangement made structural: what belongs together is pulled apart. The broken plow and the lost wife embody this perfectly — east and west, work and home, male and female domains all fracture simultaneously. When obstruction compounds into opposition, even the complementary halves of a life cannot hold together.
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