鼎 → 泰
Hexagram 50: The Cauldron → Hexagram 11: Peace
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 4, 6).
Line 1
初六 鼎顛趾。利出否。得妾以其子。无咎。
Six at the beginning means: A ting with legs upturned. Furthers removal of stagnating stuff. One takes a concubine for the sake of her son. No blame.
Line 4
九四 鼎折足。覆公餗。其形渥。凶。
Nine in the fourth place means: The legs of the ting are broken. The prince's meal is spilled And his person is soiled. Misfortune. A man has a difficult and responsible task to which he is not adequate. Moreover, he does not devote himself to it with all his strength but goes about with inferior people; therefore the execution of the work fails. In this way he also incurs personal opprobrium. Confucius says about this line: "Weak character coupled with honored place, meager knowledge with large plans, limited powers with heavy responsibility, will seldom escape disaster. "
Line 6
上九 鼎玉鉉。大吉。无不利。
Nine at the top means: The ting has rings of jade. Great good fortune. Nothing that would not act to further.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
溫山松柏，常茂不落。鳳凰以庇，得其歡樂。
Pines and cypresses of the warm mountain, ever flourishing, never falling. The phoenix shelters beneath them and finds its joy.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Fire over wind warms the cauldron; earth and heaven exchange freely in the image of Peace. Pines and cypresses on a warm mountain stand evergreen, never shedding their needles — and phoenixes shelter among them, finding joy and rest. The evergreen conifers embody constancy through all seasons, and the phoenix — that most discerning of birds, which perches only on the paulownia tree — chooses this grove as its home. Where virtue is constant, the noblest spirits gather. From The Cauldron to Peace, the transformation is one of the most auspicious in the Yi: what the cauldron refines becomes a world where heaven descends and earth rises, creating the free circulation that sustains all life. Enduring virtue attracts enduring blessing.
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