夬 → 歸妹
Hexagram 43: Breakthrough → Hexagram 54: The Marrying Maiden
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 3, 5).
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 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
翁狂嫗盲，相牽北行。欲歸高邑，迷惑不得。
The old man raving, the old woman blind; they pull each other northward. Wishing to return to the high town, bewildered, they cannot find the way.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Lake risen above heaven staggers into the thunder above the lake. An old man gone mad and an old woman blind, they lead each other northward by the hand. They wish to return to the high city but, confused and lost, cannot find the way. Two figures whose faculties have failed — one has lost his mind, the other her sight — stumble together in the wrong direction. Their mutual dependence is touching but ineffective; neither can compensate for the other's deficiency. From Breakthrough to the Marrying Maiden, the decisive stroke gives way to the improper union of thunder upon the lake. The Marrying Maiden warns of relationships entered without proper standing. This couple is a dark parody: bound to each other by necessity, unable to reach their destination, wandering northward when they should go south.
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