鼎 → 蒙
Hexagram 50: The Cauldron → Hexagram 4: Youthful Folly
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 3, 4).
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. "
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
文王四乳，仁愛篤厚。子畜十男，无有夭折。
King Wen had four nipples; his benevolence and love ran deep and generous. He raised ten sons, and not one died before his time.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Fire over wind nourishes the cauldron's contents; a spring emerges beneath the mountain, nurturing the young. King Wen of Zhou, marked by four nipples — a sign of sagely virtue in ancient physiognomy — embodied benevolence so profound that it sheltered ten sons, none lost to early death. The four nipples symbolize superabundant capacity to nourish, and the verse marvels at a household where every child thrives under such care. From The Cauldron to Youthful Folly, the transformation maps nurture into education: what the cauldron cooks, the mountain spring clarifies. King Wen's generative warmth becomes the patient guidance that draws wisdom from naivety, feeding many without exhausting the source.
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