夬 → 恆
Hexagram 43: Breakthrough → Hexagram 32: Duration
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 1, 5).
Line 1
初九 壯于前趾。往不勝為咎。
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 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
朽根刖樹，花葉落去。卒逢火焱，隨風僵仆。
Rotted roots, a crippled tree; flowers and leaves fall away. Suddenly meeting a wildfire, it collapses stiff with the wind.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Lake risen above heaven withers into the endurance of thunder and wind. A tree with rotten roots and a severed trunk — flowers and leaves fall away. Then fire suddenly strikes, and the tree topples with the wind, stiff and dead. The verse traces a cascading collapse: internal decay first, then external assault, then final destruction by fire driven by wind. Nothing structural remains to resist. From Breakthrough to Duration, the irony is severe. Duration means standing firm without changing one's ground, yet the verse shows a tree that has lost every source of stability. Root, trunk, foliage, and finally the bare wood itself — consumed by flame and felled by gale. What should endure cannot, because the foundation rotted long before the fire arrived.
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