蒙 → 革
Hexagram 4: Youthful Folly → Hexagram 49: Revolution
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 6 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6).
Line 1
初六 發蒙。利用刑人。用說桎梏。以往吝。
Six at the beginning means: To make a fool develop It furthers one to apply discipline. The fetters should be removed. To go on in this way bring humiliation.
Line 2
九二 包蒙吉。納婦吉。子克家。
Nine in the second place means: To bear with fools in kindliness brings good fortune. To know how to take women Brings good fortune. The son is capable of taking charge of the household.
Line 3
六三 勿用取女。見金夫。不有躬。无攸利。
Six in the third place means: Take not a maiden who, when she sees a man of bronze, Loses possession of herself. Nothing furthers.
Line 4
六四 困蒙。吝。
Six in the fourth place means: Entangled folly bring humiliation.
Line 5
六五 童蒙。吉。
Six in the fifth place means: Childlike folly brings good fortune.
Line 6
上九 擊蒙。不利為寇。利禦寇。
Nine at the top means: In punishing folly It does not further one To commit transgressions. The only thing that furthers Is to prevent transgressions.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
愆淫旱疾,傷害稼穡。喪制病來,農人無食。
Excessive rain and drought and disease; they harm the planting and harvesting. Mourning rites, illness arrives; the farmer has nothing to eat.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
A spring beneath the mountain dries as the sky turns hostile. Excessive rain and drought alternate as disease strikes the crops. Mourning ceremonies coincide with illness; farmers have nothing to eat. The verse catalogs agrarian catastrophe in its fullest form — weather, pestilence, and human sorrow converging on the same harvest. When heaven's rhythms go wrong, the entire cycle of planting and reaping collapses. From Youthful Folly to Revolution, the transformation carries a dual edge. Fire within the lake signals the need for radical change — reforming the calendar, correcting the seasons. The naif confronts a broken world where mere endurance is insufficient; only a fundamental restructuring of the order can restore the cycle of growth.
The Six Lines app includes all 4,096 Yilin verses, each with original ink brush artwork and full commentary. Download on the App Store