解 → 益
Hexagram 40: Deliverance → Hexagram 42: Increase
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 5 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 4, 5, 6).
Line 1
初六 无咎。
Six at the beginning means: Without blame.
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
雞雉失雛，常畏狐狸。黃池要盟，越國以昌。
Hen and pheasant lose their brood, ever fearing the fox. At the Yellow Pool an oath is sworn; the state of Yue thereby flourishes.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder over water surges into wind and thunder — the generous expansion of Increase. Hens and pheasants lose their chicks, always fearing the fox. But at the Yellow Pool covenant, while Wu's forces were engaged far from home, Yue seized its chance and rose to dominance. The verse pivots from vulnerability to strategic triumph: the mother bird's anxiety mirrors Wu's distracted court, and Yue's exploitation of the opening echoes the fox that preys on unguarded nests. From Deliverance to Increase, release of energy benefits whoever is positioned to receive it. Wind and thunder amplify each other; Goujian's patient years of gall-tasting culminated in the moment his rival looked away.
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