蹇 → 解
Hexagram 39: Obstruction → Hexagram 40: Deliverance
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 2, 3, 4, 5).
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.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
魚陸失所，鳧䵷困苦。澤无雚蒲，晉國以虛。
Fish stranded on land, out of their element; ducks and geese in distress. The marsh has no reeds or rushes; the state of Jin is emptied.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Water on the mountain strands every creature out of its element. Fish are beached on dry land, ducks and geese suffer in hardship. The marshes lack their reeds and cattails, and the state of Jin is left hollow and depleted. Each image reinforces displacement: fish without water, waterfowl without shelter, wetlands without vegetation, a great state without substance. The systematic removal of each life-form's sustaining element creates a landscape of thoroughgoing desolation. From Obstruction to Deliverance, thunder and rain break the tension. Deliverance is the release after crisis — the storm that washes the drought away. The verse's utter barrenness sets the stage for this relief: only when the displacement is total can the thunder-rain of Deliverance arrive and restore each being to its proper place.
The Six Lines app includes all 4,096 Yilin verses, each with original ink brush artwork and full commentary. Download on the App Store