益 → 坤
Hexagram 42: Increase → Hexagram 2: The Receptive
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 5, 6).
Line 1
初九 利用為大作。元吉无咎。
Nine at the beginning means: It furthers one to accomplish great deeds. Supreme good fortune. No blame.
Line 5
九五 有孚惠心。勿問元吉。有孚惠我德。
Nine in the fifth place means: If in truth you have a kind heart, ask not. Supreme good fortune. Truly, kindness will be recognized as your virtue.
Line 6
上九 莫益之。或擊之。立心勿恆。凶。
Nine at the top means: He brings increase to no one. Indeed, someone even strikes him. He does not keep his heart constantly steady. Misfortune.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
城上有烏，自名破家。招呼鴆毒，為國患災。
Atop the city wall sits a crow, calling itself the destroyer of homes. It summons poison and venom, becoming a plague upon the state.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Wind and thunder bestow increase, but the transformation leads to pure earth, passive and undirected. A crow perches on the city wall, its very name meaning 'household-destroyer.' It summons poison and pestilence, becoming a disaster for the entire state. The crow on the wall is an omen of ruin brought from within — a figure whose nature is destructive yet who dwells at the heart of the fortification. The allusion to 'zhen poison' recalls court intrigues where trusted insiders introduce lethal corruption. From Increase to the Receptive, the pattern reveals how generosity misplaced upon the wrong recipient dissolves into formless harm: earth without heaven's guidance accepts everything indiscriminately, and the beneficence intended to nourish instead feeds the parasite that consumes the house.
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