蒙 → 兌
Hexagram 4: Youthful Folly → Hexagram 58: The Joyous Lake
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 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 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
冬生不華，老女無家。霜冷蓬室，更為枯株。
Born in winter, it does not bloom; the old woman has no home. Frost chills the thatched room; all becomes a withered stump.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
A spring beneath the mountain freezes in winter's grip. A plant born in winter bears no flowers; an old woman has no home. Frost invades the wormwood hut, reducing it to a dry, dead stalk. Every image compounds desolation: wrong season, wrong age, wrong shelter. The plant that germinates in cold cannot bloom; the woman past her years finds no household to receive her. From Youthful Folly to The Joyous, the contrast is devastating. Paired lakes should bring shared delight — friends studying together, laughter reflecting laughter. Yet this figure is excluded from all warmth. Joy exists somewhere, but not here: the old woman in her frosted hovel is winter's answer to the lake's invitation, reminding us that delight is never universal.
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