解 → 革
Hexagram 40: Deliverance → Hexagram 49: Revolution
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 5).
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 3
六三 負且乘。致寇至。貞吝。
Six in the third place means: If a man carries a burden on his back And nonetheless rides in a carriage, He thereby encourages robbers to draw near. Perseverance leads to humiliation.
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
麟游鳳舞，歲樂民喜。
The qilin roams and the phoenix dances; the year brings joy and the people delight.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder over water transforms into fire within the lake — the radical renewal of Revolution. Unicorns roam and phoenixes dance; the harvest year is joyful and the people delight. The verse is brief but unmistakable: qilin and phoenix appear only under sage rule, signaling a cosmic endorsement of the new order. From Deliverance to Revolution, the storm that released old tensions now burns away the old dispensation entirely. Fire within the lake: irreconcilable elements forced together produce transformation, not destruction. The appearance of mythological auspicious creatures confirms that this revolution is heaven-sanctioned — not chaos but a new mandate emerging from the ashes of the old.
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