需 → 解
Hexagram 5: Waiting → Hexagram 40: Deliverance
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 4, 5).
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 4
六四 需于血。出自穴。
Six in the fourth place means: Waiting in blood. Get out of the pit.
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.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
一指食肉，口無所得。染其鼎鼐，舌饞於腹。
One finger reaches for meat; the mouth gets nothing. Dipping into the cauldron; the tongue craves what the belly cannot have.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Clouds above heaven yield to thunder rising above water — Deliverance's release after tension. A single finger dips into meat, yet the mouth gets nothing. One stains the great cauldron, the tongue greedy but the belly empty. The image is of someone who touches abundance without truly receiving it: a finger smeared with the juices of a feast that never reaches the stomach. The 'great cauldron' (鼎鼐) invokes state ritual — tampering with the sacred vessel for a taste rather than a proper portion. From Waiting to Deliverance, the knot should be untied, yet here the release is partial: one is freed from waiting only to encounter a feast one cannot properly partake of. Greed glimpses plenty but grasps only residue.
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