井 → 晉
Hexagram 48: The Well → Hexagram 35: Progress
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 5 changing lines (lines 2, 3, 4, 5, 6).
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 4
六四 井甃无咎。
Six in the fourth place means: The well is being lined. No blame.
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
弧矢大張，道絕不通。小人寇賊，君子壅塞。
Bows and arrows drawn wide; the road is severed, passage cut. Petty men turn to banditry; the gentleman is hemmed in and blocked.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Water drawn up through wood, the well offers its sustenance to all — but here the bow is drawn wide and the road is severed. Petty men become bandits, and the gentleman finds himself blocked at every turn. The 'great bow stretched' suggests either military threat or highway robbery: the path forward is cut off by armed force. Upright people are denied passage while disorder reigns. From The Well to Progress, fire rises above the earth in the image of dawn. Yet this verse inverts Jin's promise: the bright virtue that should ascend cannot break through the blockade. The well's open mouth is sealed by those who hoard its water, turning shared sustenance into contested territory.
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