井 → 旅
Hexagram 48: The Well → Hexagram 56: The Wanderer
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 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 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
自衛歸魯，時不我與。冰炭異室，仁道隔塞。
Returning from Wei to Lu; the times do not favor me. Ice and charcoal in separate chambers; the way of benevolence is blocked and severed.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Water drawn up through wood, the well remains while travelers come and go. 'Returning from Wei to Lu, yet the times do not favor me' — this is Confucius's lament upon his return from fourteen years of wandering. Ice and charcoal cannot share a room; the Way of benevolence is obstructed and blocked. Confucius's return to Lu around 484 BC brought no restoration of his political hopes; the Dao he carried found no vessel. From The Well to The Wanderer, fire burns atop the mountain, illuminating but not settling. The well that Confucius sought — a state that would implement his teachings — remained forever out of reach. The wanderer's fire lights the way but never becomes a hearth.
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