井 → 頤
Hexagram 48: The Well → Hexagram 27: Nourishment
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 5 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 5, 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 2
九二 井谷射鮒。甕敝漏。
Nine in the second place means: At the wellhole one shoots fishes. The jug is broken and leaks.
Line 3
九三 井渫不食。為我心惻。可用汲。王明。並受其福。
Nine in the third place means: The well is cleaned, but no one drinks from it. This is my heart's sorrow, For one might draw from it. If the king were clear-minded, Good fortune might be enjoyed in common.
Line 5
九五 井冽。寒泉食。
Nine in the fifth place means: In the well there is a clear, cold spring From which one can drink.
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
乾作聖男，坤為智女。配合既成，長生得所。
Qian makes the sage son; Kun makes the wise daughter. The match accomplished and complete, they find lasting life in their rightful place.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Water drawn up through wood, the well sustains life through the union of above and below. Qian creates the sage son, Kun forms the wise daughter. When the match is complete, both find their lasting place. The verse draws directly on the Shuogua Zhuan's cosmology: Qian-father and Kun-mother generate the six trigram children. This is not merely marriage but cosmogonic pairing — the fundamental creative act. From The Well to Nourishment, the mountain rests above thunder, the jaw that takes in sustenance. The well's structural provision meets Yi's careful discernment of what to nourish: the right pairing produces enduring life, and what is properly matched sustains itself without waste.
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