革 → 蒙
Hexagram 49: Revolution → Hexagram 4: Youthful Folly
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 6 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6).
Line 1
初九 鞏用黃牛之革。
Nine at the beginning means: Wrapped in the hide of a yellow cow.
Line 2
六二 巳日乃革之。征吉无咎。
Six in the second place means: When one's own day comes, one may create revolution. Starting brings good fortune. No blame.
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 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.
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
殊類異路，心不相慕。牝牛牡猳，鰥无室家。
Different kinds on separate paths, hearts bearing no longing for each other. The cow and the boar; the widower without a household.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Fire within the lake yields to a spring emerging beneath the mountain — water unclear, path uncertain. Different kinds travel different roads; their hearts feel no mutual longing. A cow here, a boar there; the widower has no household. Revolution severs old bonds, and Youthful Folly inherits the confusion. When incompatible natures are forced together — or when compatible ones are torn apart — no union forms. The bachelor without a family embodies this isolation. From Revolution to Youthful Folly, the transformation reveals what happens when change outpaces understanding: categories scramble, pairings fail, and one wanders alone in the fog of a world not yet reordered.
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