萃 → 屯
Hexagram 45: Gathering Together → Hexagram 3: Difficulty at the Beginning
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 1, 4).
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 4
九四 大吉无咎。
Nine in the fourth place means: Great good fortune. No blame.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
剋身整己，逢禹巡狩。錫我玄圭，拜受福祉。
Disciplining the self, rectifying one's person; encountering Yu on his royal progress. He bestows upon me the dark jade tablet; I bow and receive this blessing.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Lake upon earth transforms into thunder beneath water, the difficulty of new beginnings. One disciplines the body and rectifies the self, then encounters Yu the Great on his royal inspection tour. The sage-king bestows a dark jade tablet and blessings are received with a bow. The xuan gui, the black jade scepter, was the emblem granted to feudal lords at their investiture, confirming legitimate authority. Yu's inspections at Mount Kuaiji gathered the lords to account for their governance. From Gathering to Difficulty at the Beginning, the transition captures how communal assembly must pass through struggle before yielding fruit. The one who prepares through self-cultivation earns recognition even amid the chaos of founding a new order.
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