蹇 → 未濟
Hexagram 39: Obstruction → Hexagram 64: Before Completion
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 5 changing lines (lines 2, 3, 4, 5, 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 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
一口三舌，相妨无益。群羊百䍧，不為威強。亡馬失駒，家耗於財。
One mouth with three tongues, mutually hindering and without benefit. A hundred rams in the flock, yet they do not make for strength. Horses and colts are lost; the household's wealth is consumed.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Water on the mountain splinters into discord and dissipation. One mouth with three tongues — conflicting speech that only obstructs, never clarifies. A flock of sheep, a hundred rams, yet they do not constitute a formidable force. Horses and foals are lost, and the household hemorrhages its wealth. The verse piles up images of quantity without quality: many tongues but no coherent voice, many sheep but no real strength, many animals but they slip away. Numbers alone cannot overcome obstruction when there is no unity of direction. From Obstruction to Before Completion, fire hovers above water without the two forces meeting. Before Completion is the permanent state of almost-but-not-yet: everything is present but nothing has clicked into alignment. The three-tongued mouth, the scattered flock, the lost horses — all embody this tantalizing incompletion where resources abound but resolution remains forever one step away.
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