困 → 咸
Hexagram 47: Oppression → Hexagram 31: Influence
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 2, 3).
Line 2
九二 困于酒食。朱紱方來。利用享祀。征凶无咎。
Nine in the second place means: One is oppressed while at meat and drink. The man with the scarlet knee bands is just coming. It furthers one to offer sacrifice. To set forth brings misfortune. No blame.
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.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
比目四翼，來安吾國。福喜上堂，與我同床。
Paired eyes and joined wings, they come to settle our realm. Blessings and joy ascend to the hall, sharing our very bed.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
A lake without water, yet paired-eye fish and four-winged birds arrive to bring peace to the state. Happiness and blessings ascend the hall and share the bed. The 'paired-eye fish and shared-wing birds' are classical symbols of inseparable union: one-eyed fish that must swim in pairs, one-winged birds that can only fly together. Their appearance signals that an ideal partnership has formed, whether conjugal, political, or both. From Oppression to Influence, a lake rests upon a mountain, and the gentleman receives others with emptiness. Xian means mutual stimulus, the magnetic attraction between complementary forces. Oppression dissolves when the missing half arrives: incompleteness was the source of suffering, and completion brings immediate joy.
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