蹇 → 渙
Hexagram 39: Obstruction → Hexagram 59: Dispersion
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 2, 3, 6).
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 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
從騎出門，遊戲空城。阪高不進，利无所得。
Riding out from the gate on horseback, roaming through an empty city. The slope is high and he cannot advance; no profit is to be gained.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Water on the mountain drains away into an empty landscape. Riding out through the gate with an escort, the speaker wanders through a deserted city. The slope ahead is too steep to climb, and no profit is gained from the venture. The empty city and impassable hill combine futility with desolation — there is no one to trade with and nowhere to go. The escort makes the loneliness worse: even with companions, the emptiness of the mission is inescapable. From Obstruction to Dispersion, wind sweeps over water, scattering what was gathered. Dispersion dissolves blockages through diffusion — but the verse shows dispersion's negative face. The city is already empty, the resources already scattered; what should have been a gathering place has been dispersed beyond recovery.
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