困 → 蠱
Hexagram 47: Oppression → Hexagram 18: Work on the Decayed
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 3, 4, 5, 6).
Line 3
六三 困于石。據于蒺蔾。入于其宮。不見其妻。凶。
Six in the third place means: A man permits himself to be oppressed by stone, And leans on thorns and thistles. He enters the house and does not see his wife. Misfortune.
Line 4
九四 來徐徐。困于金車。吝。有終。
Nine in the fourth place means: He comes very quietly, oppressed in a golden carriage. Humiliation, but the end is reached.
Line 5
九五 劓刖。困于赤紱。乃徐有說。利用祭祀。
Nine in the fifth place means: His nose and feet are cut off. Oppression at the hands of the man with the purple knee bands. Joy comes softly. It furthers one to make offerings and libations.
Line 6
上六 困于葛藟。于臲卼。曰動悔有悔。征吉。
Six at the top means: He is oppressed by creeping vines. He moves uncertainly and says, "Movement brings remorse. " If one feels remorse over this and makes a start, Good fortune comes.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
升高登虛，欲有望候。駕之北邑，與喜相扶。
Ascending high to the empty tower, hoping to keep watch. Driving northward to that town, one meets with joy and mutual support.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
A lake without water: one ascends to a high vantage, climbing into open space to survey the terrain and watch for what lies ahead. Then the chariot is driven northward to the settlement, where joy arrives as a companion. The verse moves from anxious searching to fortunate encounter: the oppressed one scans the horizon for opportunity, finds it in the northern town, and meets happiness there. From Oppression to Work on the Decayed, wind stirs beneath the mountain, and the gentleman rouses the people and cultivates virtue. The one who climbed high to see was diagnosing what needed repair; the northern journey is the active step of remediation. Decay, once identified from above, can be corrected from within.
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