Hexagram 43: Breakthrough → Hexagram 38: Opposition

Breakthrough
Lake / Heaven
Opposition
Fire / Lake
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 3, 5, 6).

Line 3

九三 壯于頄。有凶。君子夬夬。獨行遇雨。若濡有慍。无咎。

zhuàngvigorous
in
qiúcheeks
yǒuassuming
xiōngmisfortune
jūnnoble
young one
guàiis decided
guàiin
all alone
xíngbut
and
rains
ruòas if
getting wet
yǒuwas
yùndispleasure
but no
jiùblame

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 5

九五 莧陸夬夬。中行无咎。

xiànwild edible greens
on the dry land
guàiresolved
guàito purge
zhōngto balance
xíngthe action
is not
jiùwrong

Nine in the fifth place means: In dealing with weeds, Firm resolution is necessary. Walking in the middle Remains free of blame.

Line 6

上六 无號。終有凶。

there is
hàocall
zhōngthe end
yǒucould
xiōngunfortunate

Six at the top means: No cry. In the end misfortune comes.

Trigram Changes

Upper TrigramLake FireThe Joyous → The Clinging
Lower TrigramHeaven LakeThe Creative → The Joyous

Yilin Verse

三羊上山,馳至大原。黃龍負舟,遂到夷傷,究其玉囊。

Three goats climb the mountain, then gallop to the great plain. A yellow dragon bears the boat, arriving at last in foreign lands; there they find the jade pouch.

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

Commentary

Lake risen above heaven splits into the opposition of fire above and lake below. Three rams climb the mountain and race to the great plain. A yellow dragon bears the boat — but it reaches a place of barbarian harm, where the jade pouch is finally examined. The imagery is riddling and disorienting: pastoral ascent, mythic transport by dragon, then injury in foreign lands. The yellow dragon bearing a boat recalls Yu the Great's legendary river crossing, when a dragon surfaced beneath his vessel. From Breakthrough to Opposition, decisive unity fractures into the tension of divergent elements. Fire and lake pull in opposite directions; what should combine instead separates. The journey that begins in pastoral confidence ends in foreign peril, the treasured contents exposed to hostile scrutiny.

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