困 → 睽
Hexagram 47: Oppression → Hexagram 38: Opposition
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 5, 6).
Line 1
初六 臀困于株木。入于幽谷。三歲不覿。
Six at the beginning means: One sits oppressed under a bare tree And strays into a gloomy valley. For three years one sees nothing.
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
坎中蝦蟆，乍盈乍虛。三夕二朝，形消无餘。
The toad in the hollow, now full and now empty. After three evenings and two dawns, the form wastes away to nothing.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
A lake without water, and a toad sits in a pit, sometimes full, sometimes empty. Within two mornings and three evenings, its form wastes away to nothing. The toad in its hollow is a creature of cycles, swelling and shrinking with the water level, but here the water never returns and the toad simply diminishes until it vanishes. The image captures entropy without renewal, oppression that depletes without replenishment. From Oppression to Opposition, fire above and lake below pull apart, each moving in its own direction. The toad's fate embodies this divergence: body and sustenance separate irreversibly. Opposition's challenge is to find unity within estrangement, but this verse shows what happens when the estrangement is total and the resources simply drain away.
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