困 → 旅
Hexagram 47: Oppression → Hexagram 56: The Wanderer
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 6 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 4, 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 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.
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
前屈後曲，形體飭急。絞黑大索，困於清室。
Bent forward, twisted back, the body bound and strained. Knotted black cords, thick ropes; confined in the stark chamber.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
A lake without water: the body bends forward and back, contorted and bound tight. Black twisted ropes, great cables restrain him; he is trapped in the 'clear chamber.' The qingshi (clear chamber or pure room) was a euphemism for a prison cell in Han dynasty usage, particularly the cell where those awaiting judicial punishment were confined. The body language of the prisoner, bent and twisted, mirrors the ropes that bind him. From Oppression to the Wanderer, fire burns above the mountain, and the gentleman is cautious and clear in applying punishments, never leaving prisoners languishing in prison. The irony cuts deep: the Wanderer's ideal of swift, fair justice is precisely what is absent here. The prisoner in the clear chamber endures oppression at its most literal, confined and forgotten.
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