鼎 → 小畜
Hexagram 50: The Cauldron → Hexagram 9: Small Taming
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 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 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
東家殺牛，聞臭腥臊。神背不顧，命衰絕周。亳社災燒，宋人夷誅。
The eastern house slaughters an ox; the stench of blood and offal rises. The spirits turn away and will not look; fate declines, and Zhou is cut off. The altar of Bo burns; the people of Song are put to the sword.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Fire over wind fills the cauldron, but wind beneath heaven can only partially restrain what stirs below. A neighbor slaughters an ox, yet the smell that wafts over is rank and foul — the spirits turn their backs, refusing the offering. Fortune declines and heaven's mandate expires. The Bo Altar burns, and the people of Song are leveled. The Bo Altar (亳社) was the Shang dynasty's ancestral shrine preserved in Song, the successor state of Shang. Its destruction by fire signaled the final severing of Shang's spiritual legacy. From The Cauldron to Small Taming, the transformation reveals how corrupted ritual repels divine favor. The cauldron's offering reeks; the gentle wind of Small Taming cannot contain the stench. When sacrifice itself is polluted, even the most restrained governance cannot prevent catastrophe.
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