姤 → 噬嗑
Hexagram 44: Coming to Meet → Hexagram 21: Biting Through
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 5).
Line 1
初六 繫于金柅。貞吉。有攸往。見凶。羸豕孚蹢躅。
Six at the beginning means: It must be checked with a brake of bronze. Perseverance brings good fortune. If one lets it take its course, one experiences misfortune. Even a lean pig has it in him to rage around.
Line 2
九二 包有魚。无咎。不利賓。
Nine in the second place means: There is a fish in the tank. No blame. Does not further guests.
Line 3
九三 臀无膚。其行次且。厲。无大咎。
Nine in the third place means: There is no skin on his thighs, And walking comes hard. If one is mindful of the danger, No great mistake is made.
Line 5
九五 以杞包瓜。含章。有隕自天。
Nine in the fifth place means: A melon covered with willow leaves. Hidden lines. Then it drops down to one from heave.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
花葉墮落，公歸嫗宅。夷子失民，潔白不食。
Flowers and leaves fall away; the lord returns to the old woman's house. Yi Zi loses the people; pure and white, he does not eat.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Wind beneath heaven strips the branches bare. Flowers and leaves fall away as the lord returns to the old woman's dwelling — an image of retreat to humble origins after the splendor fades. 'Yi Zi lost his people; pure and white, he would not eat' evokes a figure of principled refusal, one who starves rather than compromise integrity. The autumn imagery of falling petals signals the end of a cycle. From Coming to Meet to Biting Through, fire and thunder deliver swift justice: what Gou's encounter exposed as rotten must now be cut through decisively. The falling leaves are not mourned but cleared away so that what remains is honest and unadorned.
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