萃 → 需
Hexagram 45: Gathering Together → Hexagram 5: Waiting
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 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 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 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.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
機言不發，頑不能達。齊魯為仇，亡我葵丘。
The mechanism's words go unspoken; the stubborn cannot break through. Qi and Lu become enemies; they destroy our alliance at Kuiqiu.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Lake upon earth transforms into water above heaven, a gathering that must wait. The crucial word is not spoken; the obstinate cannot break through. Qi and Lu become enemies, and the assembly at Kuiqiu is lost. The Kuiqiu covenant of 651 BC was Duke Huan of Qi's greatest diplomatic triumph, gathering the feudal lords to affirm Zhou authority. Yet the verse implies its unraveling: when proper communication fails and rigidity replaces diplomacy, the alliance fractures. Qi and Lu, despite their proximity and intermarriage, repeatedly fell into mutual hostility. From Gathering to Waiting, the message is pointed: even a grand assembly dissolves when the right moment for speaking passes unheeded, leaving everyone stranded beneath gathering clouds.
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