鼎 → 解
Hexagram 50: The Cauldron → Hexagram 40: Deliverance
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 3, 6).
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 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
低頭竊視，有所畏避。行伯不利，酒酸魚敗，眾若貪嗜。
Head bowed, stealing a glance; there is something he fears and avoids. The traveling lord finds no profit; the wine has soured, the fish has spoiled, yet the crowd still craves a taste.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Fire over wind fills the cauldron; thunder above water releases in Deliverance. A figure bows its head and steals furtive glances, clearly fearful of something. 'Conducting affairs as hegemon brings no profit' — authority wielded timidly achieves nothing. Wine turns sour and fish spoil, yet the crowd craves them greedily anyway. The verse paints a scene of degraded leadership: the one in charge lacks courage, provisions have gone bad, but people consume them nonetheless out of desperate appetite. From The Cauldron to Deliverance, the transformation demands decisive release from what has spoiled. Thunder and rain should cleanse, but the leader's cowardice prevents the storm from breaking. The cauldron's fire heats rotten food — deliverance requires discarding what has gone bad, not serving it fearfully.
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