Hexagram 39: Obstruction → Hexagram 51: The Arousing Thunder

Obstruction
Water / Mountain
The Arousing Thunder
Thunder / Thunder
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

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

Line 1

初六 往蹇來譽。

wǎng(if
jiǎn(is) impassable
lái(then) coming (back)
praise(worthy)

Six at the beginning means: Going leads to obstructions, Coming meets with praise.

Line 3

九三 往蹇來反。

wǎng(if
jiǎn(is) impassable
lái(then) coming (back)
fǎnturning around

Nine in the third place means: Going leads to obstructions; Hence he comes back.

Line 4

六四 往蹇來連。

wǎng(if
jiǎn(is) impassable
lái(then) coming (back)
liánalliance(s)

Six in the fourth place means: Going leads to obstructions, Coming leads to union.

Line 5

九五 大蹇朋來。

(at) (a) major
jiǎnimpasse
péngcompanions
láicome

Nine in the fifth place means: In the midst of the greatest obstructions, Friends come.

Trigram Changes

Upper TrigramWater ThunderThe Deep → The Arousing
Lower TrigramMountain ThunderKeeping Still → The Arousing

Yilin Verse

凶門生患,牢戶多冤。沙池禿齒,使叔困貧。

The gate of ill fortune breeds calamity; the prison holds many wronged. Sand pools and broken teeth; it leaves Uncle in destitution.

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

Commentary

Water on the mountain breeds affliction at the gate of misfortune. The 'door of ill omen' generates calamity, and the prison overflows with the wrongly accused. Sandy pools leave teeth ground bare — a visceral image of depletion — and the uncle is driven into poverty and hardship. Every element signals institutional decay: gates that produce harm instead of shelter, prisons that hold the innocent, resources that erode the body, and family members abandoned to destitution. From Obstruction to The Arousing, double thunder crashes as shock jolts the world awake. The Arousing's function is precisely to break the complacency that allows such systemic rot: the thunder of consequence arrives to shatter the corrupt gate and empty the unjust prison. Whether the shock heals or merely terrifies depends on the capacity of those shaken to reform.

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