革 → 謙
Hexagram 49: Revolution → Hexagram 15: Modesty
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 4, 5).
Line 1
初九 鞏用黃牛之革。
Nine at the beginning means: Wrapped in the hide of a yellow cow.
Line 4
九四 悔亡有孚。改命吉。
Nine in the fourth place means: Remorse disappears. Men believe him. Changing the form of government brings good fortune.
Line 5
九五 大人虎變。未占有孚。
Nine in the fifth place means: The great man changes like a tiger. Even before he questions the oracle He is believed.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
東壁餘光，數暗不明。主母嫉妬，亂我業事。
A guttering lamp like a bean, shadows swaying on the wall. In the dark, someone watches me work. Half the cloth is woven — then a knife comes to cut it. A night's labor, cold on the floor.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Fire within the lake subsides into a mountain hidden beneath the earth — Modesty, where greatness conceals itself. The original verse reads: 'A remnant lamp on the east wall, its light dim and fading. The mistress of the house, consumed by jealousy, disrupts my work.' A concubine or secondary wife labors through the night, only to have her efforts sabotaged by the jealous primary wife. The faint lamp on the eastern wall — barely enough to see by — becomes the emblem of suppressed talent working under hostile scrutiny. From Revolution to Modesty, the transformation reveals that even after upheaval, the humble worker remains vulnerable to those above who feel threatened by her diligence.
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