井 → 訟
Hexagram 48: The Well → Hexagram 6: Conflict
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 3, 4, 6).
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 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
少孤无父，長失慈母。悖悖煢煢，莫與為福。
Orphaned young, without a father; grown, he loses his loving mother. Bereft and desolate, utterly alone; none to share in his fortune.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Water drawn up through wood sustains the community, but an orphan has no community to draw from. Young and fatherless, grown up without a mother, he wanders alone and bewildered with no one to share his fortune. The verse traces a life stripped of every bond that the well symbolizes: the family, the village, the sustaining network. From The Well to Conflict, heaven and water move in opposite directions. The orphan's isolation resonates with the fundamental discord of Song: without the communal structure the well provides, one cannot even begin to contest one's position, for there is no ground on which to stand and no advocate to speak.
The Six Lines app includes all 4,096 Yilin verses, each with original ink brush artwork and full commentary. Download on the App Store