夬 → 臨
Hexagram 43: Breakthrough → Hexagram 19: Approach
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 3, 4, 5).
Line 3
九三 壯于頄。有凶。君子夬夬。獨行遇雨。若濡有慍。无咎。
Nine in the third place means: To be powerful in the cheekbones Brings misfortune. The superior man is firmly resolved. He walks alone and is caught in the rain. He is bespattered, And people murmur against him. No blame.
Line 4
九四 臀无膚。其行次且。牽羊悔亡。聞言不信。
Nine in the fourth place means: There is no skin on his thighs, And walking comes hard. If a man were to let himself be led like a sheep, Remorse would disappear. But if these words are heard They will not be believed.
Line 5
九五 莧陸夬夬。中行无咎。
Nine in the fifth place means: In dealing with weeds, Firm resolution is necessary. Walking in the middle Remains free of blame.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
旦生夕死，名曰嬰鬼，不可得視。
Morning dew gathers like pearls, but before noon arrives — sunlight comes, wind rises, and leaves bear no trace.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Lake risen above heaven meets the earth resting upon the lake's approach. The original verse reads: 'Born at dawn, dead by dusk — its name is infant ghost; it cannot be seen.' Something so ephemeral it perishes before it can even be perceived — a life that begins and ends within a single day, leaving no trace. The infant ghost is too fleeting for the eye to catch, a phenomenon that exists below the threshold of observation. From Breakthrough to Approach, the forceful descent of decisive action meets the gentle, encompassing quality of authority approaching from above. Yet the verse warns that what is approached may vanish before contact is made. Some things cannot be grasped by even the most resolute advance; they dissolve at the moment of reaching.
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