解 → 困
Hexagram 40: Deliverance → Hexagram 47: Oppression
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 1 changing line (line 5).
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.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
萬物初生，蟄虫振起。益壽增福，日受其喜。
The ten thousand things first stir; hibernating creatures rise and shake themselves awake. Life increases and fortune grows; day by day one receives its joy.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder over water flows into the lake with no water — the paradox of Oppression concealing renewal. All things are newly born; hibernating creatures stir and rise. Longevity increases, blessings multiply, and each day brings fresh joy. The verse is entirely auspicious, describing the first stirrings of spring: new life, new energy, new fortune. From Deliverance to Oppression, the transformation seems contradictory — how can such abundance lead to a hexagram of exhaustion? The answer lies in the cycle: this spring joy is what exists just before the lake runs dry. Alternatively, the verse may capture the hidden vitality within oppression itself — even when the lake has no water, life stirs underground, waiting.
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