夬 → 革
Hexagram 43: Breakthrough → Hexagram 49: Revolution
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 1 changing line (line 2).
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.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
江南多蝮，螫於手足。冤煩詰屈，痛徹心腹。
South of the river, vipers abound; they sting the hands and feet. Grief and torment twist and coil; pain pierces to the heart.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Lake risen above heaven transforms as fire burns within the lake. The south country teems with vipers that strike at hands and feet. The injustice is galling and convoluted; the pain pierces to the very heart. Southern venomous snakes were a classical image of the dangers faced by exiled officials sent to the subtropical frontier — the real hazard compounding the political wound. From Breakthrough to Revolution, the decisive act meets the transformative upheaval of fire within the lake. Revolution remakes what was: it changes the calendar, redefines the era. But here the revolutionary energy manifests as venom — transformation experienced as torment. The pain is not abstract but visceral, biting into flesh and boring into the chest, a revolution endured in the body.
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