萃 → 節
Hexagram 45: Gathering Together → Hexagram 60: Limitation
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 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 4
九四 大吉无咎。
Nine in the fourth place means: Great good fortune. No blame.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
針頭刺手，百病瘳愈。抑按捫灸，死人復起。
The needle pricks the hand; a hundred ailments are cured. Pressing, palpating, applying moxa; the dying man rises again.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Lake upon earth transforms into water above the lake, the measured Limitation. A needle pricks the hand, and a hundred ailments are cured. With pressing, palpating, and applying moxibustion, even the dead can be revived. The verse celebrates the physician's art, specifically acupuncture and moxibustion, where precisely calibrated pain produces healing. The needle's sting is limitation itself: a controlled intervention that restricts in order to restore. From Gathering to Limitation, the transformation reframes constraint as medicine. Water above the lake sets boundaries on what can flow freely, and this measured containment is exactly what heals. The acupuncturist does not remove the disease but redirects the body's gathered energies through careful, limited punctures that restore proper circulation.
The Six Lines app includes all 4,096 Yilin verses, each with original ink brush artwork and full commentary. Download on the App Store