夬 → 屯
Hexagram 43: Breakthrough → Hexagram 3: Difficulty at the Beginning
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 2, 3, 4).
Line 2
九二 惕號。莫夜有戎。勿恤。
Nine in the second place means: A cry of alarm. Arms at evening and at night. Fear nothing.
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.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
雞鳴失時，君騷相憂。犬吠不休，行者稽留。
The cock crows out of time; lord and minister fret together. The dog barks without cease; the traveler is delayed.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Lake above heaven presses down as thunder stirs beneath gathering clouds. The rooster crows at the wrong hour, alarming both ruler and ministers; the dog barks without ceasing, delaying travelers on the road. Untimely signals and false alarms create confusion — no one can distinguish real danger from mere noise. The rooster crowing out of time is a classical sign of disordered governance, while the restless dog traps the traveler in anxious indecision. From Breakthrough to Difficulty at the Beginning, decisive clarity dissolves into primordial confusion. What was once a clean stroke of resolution becomes entangled in the stormy chaos of new beginnings, where every direction seems blocked and forward motion requires patient endurance rather than swift action.
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