鼎 → 屯
Hexagram 50: The Cauldron → Hexagram 3: Difficulty at the Beginning
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 6 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 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 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 5
六五 鼎黃耳金鉉。利貞。
Six in the fifth place means: The ting has yellow handles, golden carrying rings. Perseverance furthers.
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
蹙狂跛衽，辟坐不行。棄損平人，名字无中。
Frenzied, lame, robes in disarray; crouching aside, unable to walk. Cast off and diminished among common men; name and repute amount to nothing.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Fire over wind blazes in the cauldron, but storm clouds and thunder choke the newborn sprout. A figure stumbles and lurches — frantic, lame, tripping over garments — then sits frozen, unable to move. The verse depicts complete social paralysis: reputations discarded, names erased from the register, 'no place in the center.' This is a portrait of disgrace so total that identity itself dissolves. From The Cauldron to Difficulty at the Beginning, the transformation captures how refined potential can be squandered before it takes root. Thunder stirs beneath the water, but the sprout cannot break through. What the cauldron prepared meets a world not yet ready to receive it — chaos smothers the offering before it reaches the table.
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