Hexagram 44: Coming to Meet → Hexagram 15: Modesty

Coming to Meet
Heaven / Wind
Modesty
Earth / Mountain
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

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

Line 2

九二 包有魚。无咎。不利賓。

bāocreel
yǒuholds
fish
no
jiùblame
but no
advantage
bīnone's guests

Nine in the second place means: There is a fish in the tank. No blame. Does not further guests.

Line 4

九四 包无魚。起凶。

bāocreel
without
fish
dawning
xiōngunhappiness

Nine in the fourth place means: No fish in the tank. This leads to misfortune.

Line 5

九五 以杞包瓜。含章。有隕自天。

using
willows
bāoto wrap
guāmelons
hánrestrained
zhāngis a
yǒuthese
yǔndropped
from
tiānheaven

Nine in the fifth place means: A melon covered with willow leaves. Hidden lines. Then it drops down to one from heave.

Line 6

上九 姤其角。吝。无咎。

gòuencountering
on
jiǎohorns
lìnembarrassing
though no
jiùto blame

Nine at the top means: He comes to meet with his horns. Humiliation. No blame.

Trigram Changes

Upper TrigramHeaven EarthThe Creative → The Receptive
Lower TrigramWind MountainThe Gentle → Keeping Still

Yilin Verse

壅遏隄防,水不得行。火慎陽光,陰霓伏藏,走歸其鄉。

Blocked by dike and dam, the water cannot flow. Fire heeds the sun's light; dark mist hides in concealment, fleeing home to its own place.

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

Commentary

Wind beneath heaven meets an embankment that blocks its flow. Dams and dikes hold the water back, denying it passage. Fire's bright yang energy is guarded against, while dark mists crouch hidden, eventually fleeing homeward. The verse layers images of containment and concealment: water dammed, fire watched, yin energy crouching low and ultimately retreating. From Coming to Meet to Modesty, the mountain hidden within the earth embodies precisely this dynamic — great power concealed beneath a humble surface. The encounter of Gou is met with deliberate restraint: the yin force that entered is channeled, blocked, and sent back whence it came, all without violence, through the quiet architecture of limits.

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