益 → 旅

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.