需 → 蒙
Hexagram 5: Waiting → Hexagram 4: Youthful Folly
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 5, 6).
Line 1
初九 需于郊。利用恆。无咎。
Nine at the beginning means: Waiting in the meadow. It furthers one to abide in what endures. No blame.
Line 3
九三 需于泥。致寇至。
Nine in the third place means: Waiting in the mud Brings about the arrival of the enemy.
Line 5
九五 需于酒食。貞吉。
Nine in the fifth place means: Waiting at meat and drink. Perseverance brings good fortune.
Line 6
上六 入于穴。有不速之客三人來。敬之終吉。
Six at the top means: One falls into the pit. Three uninvited guests arrive. Honor them, and in the end there will be good fortune.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
三塗五岳，陽城太室。神明所伏，獨無兵革。
The Three Passes, the Five Sacred Peaks; Yangcheng, the Grand Chamber. Where the spirits dwell in hiding; alone free of war and weapons.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Clouds above heaven open onto sacred geography: the Three Paths, the Five Sacred Mountains, Yangcheng, and the Grand Chamber of Mount Song. These are the ritual heartlands of ancient China — Yangcheng where Yu the Great reportedly convened the feudal lords, and Taishi (Grand Chamber), the central peak of the sacred Songshan range. Where spirits and gods dwell, war does not reach. The verse maps a landscape of divine protection: sacred space repels violence by its very nature. From Waiting to Youthful Folly, the transformation moves from patient trust to the spring emerging from beneath the mountain — clear water finding its way through darkness, guided not by force but by the terrain's own hidden wisdom.
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