解 → 觀
Hexagram 40: Deliverance → Hexagram 20: Contemplation
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 2, 4, 5, 6).
Line 2
九二 田獲三狐。得黃矢。貞吉。
Nine in the second place means: One kills three foxes in the field And receives a yellow arrow. Perseverance brings good fortune.
Line 4
九四 解而拇。朋至斯孚。
Nine in the fourth place means: Deliver yourself from your great toe. Then the companion comes, And him you can trust.
Line 5
六五 君子維有解。吉。有孚于小人。
Six in the fifth place means: If only the superior man can deliver himself, It brings good fortune. Thus he proves to inferior men that he is in earnest.
Line 6
上六 公用射隼于高墉之上。獲之无不利。
Six at the top means: The prince shoots at a hawk on a high wall. He kills it. Everything serves to further.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
陪依在位，乘非其器。折足覆餗，毀傷寶玉。
Placed through favor, not merit, riding a vessel beyond his worth. The cauldrons leg breaks, stew overturns; precious jade is ruined and harmed.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder over water releases into wind blowing across the earth — the wide vista of contemplation. One who occupies a position through favor rather than merit, wielding instruments beyond one's competence, is doomed to fail. The tripod breaks its foot and spills the duke's meal — a direct allusion to the I-Ching's Ding hexagram, line nine-four. Precious jade is damaged and destroyed. From Deliverance to Contemplation, the freed person who ascends without qualification invites public humiliation. Wind sweeps across the earth revealing all things clearly; under such scrutiny, incompetence cannot hide. The broken tripod spills its contents for all to see.
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