困 → 需
Hexagram 47: Oppression → Hexagram 5: Waiting
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 4).
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 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.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
石鼠四足，不能上屋。顏氏淑德，未有爵祿。
The stone rat has four feet but cannot climb to the roof. The Yan clan possesses pure virtue yet has neither rank nor stipend.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
A lake without water: a stone rat scurries on four legs but cannot climb to the rooftop. The image echoes the Shijing's 'Shuo Shu' ode, where the bloated rat symbolizes those who consume without contributing. Then comes Yan Hui, Confucius's most beloved disciple, whose sublime virtue went unrewarded with rank or salary. He lived in a narrow lane on a single bowl of rice and a ladle of water, yet never lost his joy. From Oppression to Waiting, clouds mass above heaven but the rain has not yet fallen. The worthy man's time has not arrived. The fat rat occupies what it cannot earn; the sage starves in his lane. Oppression here is not poverty of character but poverty of recognition, and the one who waits must wait longer still.
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