萃 → 臨
Hexagram 45: Gathering Together → Hexagram 19: Approach
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 4, 5).
Line 1
初六 有孚不終。乃亂乃萃。若號一握為笑。勿恤。往无咎。
Six at the beginning means: If you are sincere, but not to the end, There will sometimes be confusion, sometimes gathering together. If you call out, Then after one grasp of the hand you can laugh again. Regret not. Going is without blame.
Line 2
六二 引吉无咎。孚乃利用禴。
Six in the second place means: Letting oneself be drawn Brings good fortune and remains blameless. If one is sincere, It furthers one to bring even a small offering.
Line 4
九四 大吉无咎。
Nine in the fourth place means: Great good fortune. No blame.
Line 5
九五 萃有位。无咎匪孚。元永貞。悔亡。
Nine in the fifth place means: If in gathering together one has position, This brings no blame. If there are some who are not yet sincerely in the work, Sublime and enduring perseverance is needed. Then remorse disappears.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
昭君死國，諸夏蒙德。異類既同，宗我王室。
Zhao Jun dies for her country; the many Xia inherit her virtue. The foreign peoples now united, they honor our royal house.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Lake upon earth gives way to earth above the lake, the sovereign's Approach. The lady of Zhao dies for the state, and the Xia peoples receive her virtue. Different peoples are unified, and all honor the royal house. Wang Zhaojun, the Han court lady who volunteered to marry the Xiongnu chanyu in 33 BC, is one of the Four Beauties of Chinese history. Her sacrifice secured peace on the northern frontier for decades. The verse frames her death abroad as a gift to the nation, her personal loss becoming collective benefit. From Gathering to Approach, the transformation shows how one person's sacrifice can extend the sovereign's reach: the ruler approaches the distant peoples not through armies but through the virtue embodied in Zhaojun's willing departure.
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