井 → 益
Hexagram 48: The Well → Hexagram 42: Increase
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 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 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
穿室鑿墻，不直生訟。褰衣涉露，雖勞无功。
Piercing rooms and boring through walls; without just cause, lawsuits arise. Hiking up robes to wade through dew; though he labors, there is no reward.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Water drawn up through wood, the well operates through proper channels — but here someone tunnels through walls and bores through partitions, provoking lawsuits over crooked dealings. Lifting one's skirts to wade through morning dew, one labors hard but achieves nothing. The 'piercing walls' is a classical image of theft or boundary violation from the Analects. Wading through dew in hiked-up garments suggests undignified effort without reward. From The Well to Increase, wind and thunder energize growth. Yet the well's legitimate distribution cannot benefit one who bypasses its structure: Increase rewards those who correct errors and emulate virtue, not those who burrow through walls for shortcuts that lead only to litigation and futility.
The Six Lines app includes all 4,096 Yilin verses, each with original ink brush artwork and full commentary. Download on the App Store