革 → 无妄
Hexagram 49: Revolution → Hexagram 25: Innocence
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 3, 6).
Line 3
九三 征凶貞厲。革言三就。有孚。
Nine in the third place means: Starting brings misfortune. Perseverance brings danger. When talk of revolution has gone the rounds three times, One may commit himself, And men will believe him.
Line 6
上六 君子豹變。小人革面。征凶。居貞吉。
Six at the top means: The superior man changes like a panther. The inferior man molts in the face. Starting brings misfortune. To remain persevering brings good fortune.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
雙鳧俱飛，欲歸稻池。經涉雚澤，為矢所射，傷我胸臆。
A pair of wild ducks fly together, longing to return to the rice pond. Passing through the reed marsh, struck by an arrow; it wounds my breast and heart.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Fire within the lake transforms into thunder beneath heaven — Innocence, where disaster strikes without cause. A pair of wild ducks fly together, longing to return to the rice pond. Passing through the reedy marshes, they are struck by arrows, piercing chest and ribs. The ducks' only desire is to go home; the marshland they must cross conceals the hunter. This is the essence of Innocence: misfortune that arrives through no fault of one's own, simply because the path home passes through danger. From Revolution to Innocence, the transformation captures the cruelty of transition — those fleeing upheaval toward familiar safety are sometimes cut down precisely because they follow the obvious route.
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