Hexagram 47: Oppression → Hexagram 32: Duration

Oppression
Lake / Water
Duration
Thunder / Wind
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 3, 5).

Line 3

六三 困于石。據于蒺蔾。入于其宮。不見其妻。凶。

kùnbeset
by
shístone
seize
upon
thorns
brambles
entering
into
his
gōnghouse
but not
jiànseeing
his
wife
xiōngunfortunate

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 5

九五 劓刖。困于赤紱。乃徐有說。利用祭祀。

nose cut off
yuèand feet cut off
kùnbeset
by
chìthe blush
sashed ministers
nǎiand only then
slowly
yǒugetting
shuōrelief
worthwhile
yòngand useful
to give
and a

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.

Trigram Changes

Upper TrigramLake ThunderThe Joyous → The Arousing
Lower TrigramWater WindThe Deep → The Gentle

Yilin Verse

先縠彘季,反謀桓子。不從元帥,遂行挑戰,為荊所敗。

Xian Hu and Zhi Ji rebel against Huan Zi's counsel. Defying the commander-in-chief, they ride out to provoke battle and are defeated by Chu.

— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE

Commentary

A lake without water, and the generals Xian Hu and Zhi Ji conspire against the commander Huan Zi. They refuse to follow the supreme marshal's orders, insist on provoking battle, and are defeated by Chu. This alludes to the Battle of Bi in 597 BC, when the Jin generals disobeyed their commander Xun Linfu. Xian Hu (先縠) rashly crossed the river to challenge Chu, dragging the reluctant army into a disaster that became one of Jin's most humiliating defeats. From Oppression to Duration, thunder and wind reinforce each other, and the gentleman stands firm without changing his direction. The bitter irony: Duration demands constancy, but the defeated generals were constant only in their insubordination, persisting in defiance when obedience was required.

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