鼎 → 益
Hexagram 50: The Cauldron → Hexagram 42: Increase
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 5 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 4, 5).
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.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
坐朝乘軒，據德宰民。虞舜受命，六合和親。
Seated at court, riding the carriage of state; by virtue he governs the people. Yu Shun receives the mandate; the four quarters of the realm are joined in harmony.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Fire over wind fills the cauldron; wind and thunder collaborate in Increase. Seated at court and riding in state carriages, one governs the people through accumulated virtue. Emperor Shun received heaven's mandate, and the six directions were unified in harmony. Shun, the sage-king chosen by Yao for his extraordinary filial piety, governed not through force but through moral example — the realm ordered itself around his virtue. The verse presents the ideal of Confucian kingship: authority derived from personal cultivation, governance as an extension of character. From The Cauldron to Increase, the transformation fulfills the cauldron's highest purpose. What fire over wind refines becomes the wind-and-thunder synergy that benefits all — the ruler's virtue increases everyone it touches.
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