蹇 → 兌
Hexagram 39: Obstruction → Hexagram 58: The Joyous Lake
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 4).
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.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
機餌設張，司暴子良。范叔不廉，凶害及身。
Bait and snare are set and spread; the tyrant's executioner Zi Liang. Fan Shu was not incorruptible; evil and harm came upon his own body.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Water on the mountain conceals a trap. Bait and snares are set with cunning precision by those who 'enforce violence' — the officers Sibao and Ziliang, names suggesting judicial or enforcement functionaries. Then 'Fan Shu proves unchaste,' and harm falls upon his own person. Fan Shu may refer to Fan Sui (范雎), the Qin chancellor famed for repaying every grudge, whose own student Zheng Anping later surrendered to the enemy, bringing disgrace back upon his patron. From Obstruction to The Joyous, doubled lakes mirror one another in mutual delight. But the verse subverts this: what appears as a joyous exchange is actually a trap. The Joyous at its worst becomes seduction — pleasure used as the mechanism of destruction. The snare disguised as an invitation is the Joyous's shadow made manifest.
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