萃 → 賁
Hexagram 45: Gathering Together → Hexagram 22: Grace
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 5 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 4, 5, 6).
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 3
六三 萃如嗟如。无攸利。往无咎。小吝。
Six in the third place means: Gathering together amid sighs. Nothing that would further. Going is without blame. Slight humiliation.
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.
Line 6
上六 齎咨涕洟。无咎。
Six at the top means: Lamenting and sighing, floods of tears. No blame.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
泣涕長訣，我心不快。遠送衛野，歸寧无子。
Weeping tears in long farewell; my heart knows no ease. Escorted far into the wilds of Wei; returning in peace, without child.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Lake upon earth transforms into mountain over fire, the surface beauty of Grace concealing sorrow beneath. Tears fall in a long farewell; the heart finds no ease. The beloved is escorted far to the wilds of Wei, and returning to her parents' home there is no child. The verse reads as a poignant marriage lament, likely echoing the Shijing tradition of women sent to distant states through political marriage. The journey to Wei, the tearful parting, and the childless return all suggest a union that failed to produce an heir, the worst outcome for a political bride. From Gathering to Grace, the transformation exposes how ornamental beauty can mask emotional desolation. The mountain adorned with firelight looks splendid from afar, but close up the fire is grief.
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