Hexagram 43: Breakthrough → Hexagram 56: The Wanderer

Breakthrough
Lake / Heaven
The Wanderer
Mountain / Fire
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 2, 4, 5, 6).

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.

Line 4

九四 臀无膚。其行次且。牽羊悔亡。聞言不信。

túnrump
without
skin
one's
xíngwalking
is second-rate
qiěfor now
qiānin tow
yángas
huǐregrets
wángwill
wénbut to hear
yánthis
is not
xìnto believe

Nine in the fourth place means: There is no skin on his thighs, And walking comes hard. If a man were to let himself be led like a sheep, Remorse would disappear. But if these words are heard They will not be believed.

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 MountainThe Joyous → Keeping Still
Lower TrigramHeaven FireThe Creative → The Clinging

Yilin Verse

北登鬼丘,駕龍東遊。王叔御后,文武何憂?

Ascending north to the ghost mound, riding dragons on an eastern journey. The prince drives for the queen; what worry have the civil and martial lords?

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

Commentary

Lake risen above heaven wanders as fire atop the mountain. Climbing north to Ghost Hill, one mounts a dragon and tours eastward. A royal uncle attends the queen, and King Wen and King Wu have nothing to worry about. The imagery is mythic: ascending spirit-mounds, riding dragons, traversing the cosmos under divine protection. The royal uncle serving the queen suggests the Duke of Zhou or a similar figure whose loyal service freed the sage-kings from anxiety. From Breakthrough to the Wanderer, the decisive act propels one outward into unfamiliar terrain. Fire on the mountain: the traveler's campfire, bright but transient. Yet this verse's wanderer travels not as an exile but as a triumphant envoy of heaven, his journey secured by the very dynasty whose founders he names.

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