Hexagram 42: Increase → Hexagram 56: The Wanderer

Increase
Wind / Thunder
The Wanderer
Fire / Mountain
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 4, 5).

Line 1

初九 利用為大作。元吉无咎。

worthwhile
yòng(to be) applied? practiced? carried out?
wéi(to) effect
great
zuòworks
yuánmost
promising
no
jiùblame

Nine at the beginning means: It furthers one to accomplish great deeds. Supreme good fortune. No blame.

Line 3

六三 益之用凶事。无咎。有孚中行。告公用圭。

increase(ing)
zhīis that of
yòng(the) way
xiōngill-omened
shìevents
no
jiùblame
yǒu(if
sincerity
zhōng(the) central
xíngconduct
gàoannounce
gōng(to the) prince
yòng(one) uses
guī(a) jade tablet

Six in the third place means: One is enriched through unfortunate events. No blame, if you are sincere And walk in the middle, And report with a seal to the prince.

Line 4

六四 中行。告公從。利用為依遷國。

zhōng(the) central
xíngconduct
gàoannounce
gōng(to the) prince
cóng(who) follows
worthwhile
yòng(to be) applied
wéi(to) effect
a mainstay
qiān(in) moving
guó(the) nation

Six in the fourth place means: If you walk in the middle And report the prince, He will follow. It furthers one to be used In the removal of the capital.

Line 5

九五 有孚惠心。勿問元吉。有孚惠我德。

yǒu(if
sincerity
huì(and a) kind(ly)
xīnheart
not at all
wènquestion
yuánmost
promising
yǒu(there is
sincerity
huìkind(ness)
my
virtue

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.

Trigram Changes

Upper TrigramWind FireThe Gentle → The Clinging
Lower TrigramThunder MountainThe Arousing → Keeping Still

Yilin Verse

鹿在澤陂,豺傷其麑,泣血獨哀。

The deer stands at the marsh bank; the jackal has wounded its fawn. Weeping blood in lonely sorrow.

— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE

Commentary

Wind and thunder bestow increase, but the transformation leads to fire upon the mountain — the exposed vulnerability of the Wanderer. A deer stands by the marsh bank, and a jackal injures its fawn. The mother weeps bloody tears in solitary grief. The image is devastating in its simplicity: a nursing deer at the water's edge, the most vulnerable moment and place, where a predator strikes the young. The mother survives but can only mourn — there is no rescue, no retaliation, only the finality of loss. From Increase to the Wanderer, the verse captures the traveler's essential exposure. Fire on the mountain illuminates but also exposes; the wanderer who has no permanent shelter faces dangers that settled people avoid. The deer at the marsh is increase without protection — abundance of life concentrated in a place where it can be taken.

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