困 → 兌
Hexagram 47: Oppression → Hexagram 58: The Joyous Lake
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 1 changing line (line 1).
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.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
國將有事，狐嘈向城。三日悲鳴，邑主大驚。
The state is about to face calamity; foxes cry and clamor toward the city. For three days they wail and keen; the lord of the town is greatly alarmed.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
A lake without water: the state is about to face trouble, and foxes bark toward the city walls. For three days they cry mournfully, and the city's lord is greatly alarmed. In Chinese omen lore, foxes howling toward a city was a dire portent of impending invasion or internal collapse. The three-day duration intensifies the warning: this is not a passing disturbance but a sustained premonition. From Oppression to the Joyous, doubled lakes reflect each other, and friends gather for mutual learning. The Joyous should bring communal pleasure, but the verse inverts it: the only voices raised are the foxes' cries, and the only gathering is of ill omens. When joy's proper form is absent, its hollow image appears as warning. The ruler who heeds the fox's cry may yet forestall disaster through timely action.
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