鼎 → 坤
Hexagram 50: The Cauldron → Hexagram 2: The Receptive
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 2, 3, 4, 6).
Line 2
九二 鼎有實。我仇有疾。不我能即。吉。
Nine in the second place means: There is food in the ting. My comrades are envious, But they cannot harm me. Good fortune.
Line 3
九三 鼎耳革。其行塞。雉膏不食。方雨虧悔。終吉。
Nine in the third place means: The handle of the ting is altered. One is impeded in his way of life. The fat of the pheasant is not eaten. Once rain falls, remorse is spent. Good fortune comes in the end.
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
郤叔賈貸，行祿多悔，利无所得。
Xi Shu lent and traded; traveling for profit, he met only regret. Gain was nowhere to be found.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Fire over wind transforms raw materials in the cauldron, yet earth doubled yields only passive receptivity. Xi Shu lends at interest and travels seeking profit, but every venture ends in regret with nothing gained. The name 'Xi Shu' likely refers to a figure of the Xi clan of Jin, whose overreach in financial dealings brought ruin rather than reward. The verse captures the futility of chasing gain without moral grounding — profit sought through lending and trading dissolves like water into earth. From The Cauldron to The Receptive, the transformation warns that even well-equipped endeavors require fertile ground. Without it, the cauldron's fire burns uselessly, and the traveler returns empty-handed to formless earth.
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