困 → 師
Hexagram 47: Oppression → Hexagram 7: The Army
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 4, 5).
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.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
麞鹿逐牧，飽歸其居。還反次舍，樂得自如。
Deer and muntjac follow the pasture, sated they return to their dwelling. Coming back to rest in their shelter, content and at ease of their own accord.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
A lake without water, yet the deer and river-deer follow their pasture, eat their fill, and return contentedly to their lodgings. The verse paints a scene of pastoral satisfaction: animals graze freely, then come home to rest, taking pleasure in their natural routine. No allusion complicates the image; it is pure divinatory felicity. From Oppression to the Army, the transformation is quietly instructive. Water hidden within the earth gives the general his disciplined mass. These grazing animals return to their quarters in orderly fashion, each knowing its place. The contentment of well-managed creatures mirrors the Army's ideal: people nourished and properly organized do not rebel. Even from oppression, disciplined return to one's proper station yields peace and self-sufficiency.
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