Hexagram 43: Breakthrough → Hexagram 31: Influence

Breakthrough
Lake / Heaven
Influence
Lake / Mountain
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 1, 2).

Line 1

初九 壯于前趾。往不勝為咎。

zhuàngvigorous
in
qiánadvancing
zhǐtoes
wǎnggoing forward
is not
shèngsuccessful
wéimaking
jiùmistakes

Nine at the beginning means: Mighty in the forward-striding toes. When one goes and is not equal to the task, One makes a mistake.

Line 2

九二 惕號。莫夜有戎。勿恤。

anxious
hàoand complain
this is not
night
yǒuto have
róngwar
do not
worry

Nine in the second place means: A cry of alarm. Arms at evening and at night. Fear nothing.

Trigram Changes

Upper TrigramLake Lake
Lower TrigramHeaven MountainThe Creative → Keeping Still

Yilin Verse

憂在心腹,內崩為疾。禍起蕭墻,意如制國。

Worry dwells in heart and belly; within, it festers into sickness. Disaster rises from behind the inner wall; Yi Ru seizes control of the state.

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

Commentary

Lake risen above heaven descends into the lake resting upon the mountain. Anxiety lodges in the chest; internal collapse becomes disease. 'Disaster arises from within the screen wall' — this quotes Confucius's famous warning from the Analerta, Ji Shi chapter: 'I fear the trouble of the Jisun family lies not in Zhuanyu but within the screen wall itself.' The verse then names Yi Ru — Ji Pingzi, whose personal name was Yi Ru — the powerful Jisun minister who effectively controlled the state of Lu, driving Duke Zhao into exile in 517 BC. From Breakthrough to Influence, the lake atop the mountain should create mutual responsiveness. Instead, the sensitivity that Influence fosters becomes the very channel through which internal treachery spreads — the body politic, open and receptive, admits the poison already within.

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