井 → 乾
Hexagram 48: The Well → Hexagram 1: The Creative
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 4, 6).
Line 1
初六 井泥不食。舊井无禽。
Six at the beginning means: One does not drink the mud of the well. No animals come to an old well.
Line 4
六四 井甃无咎。
Six in the fourth place means: The well is being lined. No blame.
Line 6
上六 井收勿幕。有孚元吉。
Six at the top means: One draws from the well Without hindrance. It is dependable. Supreme good fortune.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
左輔右弼，金玉滿堂。常盈不亡，富如敖倉。
Assisted at left, supported at right; gold and jade fill the hall. Ever brimming, never failing; rich as the granary of Ao.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Water drawn up through wood, the well nourishes all who come. Trusted ministers stand at left and right, gold and jade fill the hall, wealth never diminishing, abundant as the Ao Granary. The 'left assistant, right aide' echoes the ideal of balanced governance where the ruler is flanked by capable counselors. The Ao Granary, the Qin-Han empire's greatest storehouse, stood northwest of Xingyang and decided the outcome of the Chu-Han wars. From The Well to The Creative, communal sustenance transforms into self-generating initiative: the well's patient, shared resource becomes the ceaseless drive of doubled heaven, where strength perpetuates itself without external dependence.
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