震 → 睽
Hexagram 51: The Arousing Thunder → Hexagram 38: Opposition
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 2, 6).
Line 2
六二 震來厲。億喪貝。躋于九陵。勿逐。七日得。
Six in the second place means: Shock comes bringing danger. A hundred thousand times You lose your treasures And must climb the nine hills. Do not go in pursuit of them. After seven days you will get them back again.
Line 6
上六 震索索。視矍矍。征凶。震不于其躬。于其鄰。无咎。婚媾有言。
Six at the top means: Shock brings ruin and terrified gazing around. Going ahead brings misfortune. If it has not yet touched one's own body But has reached one's neighbor first, There is no blame. One's comrades have something to talk about.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
折臂接手，不能進酒。祈祀閑曠，神怒不喜。
Arm broken, hand joined wrong; unable to present the wine. Prayers and sacrifices idle and empty; the spirits are angered and displeased.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder doubled meets fire over lake: shock fractured into Opposition. An arm is broken and a hand severed — unable to pour the wine. Prayers and sacrifices are neglected and sparse; the spirits are angered and displeased. The broken limb is both literal injury and ritual incapacity: one cannot perform the libation with severed hands. When sacrifice fails, the covenant between human and divine breaks down. From The Arousing to Opposition, fire and lake pull in opposite directions — flame rises while water sinks, creating irreconcilable divergence. The verse embodies this structural mismatch: the body cannot serve the spirit, the ritual cannot reach the divine. Opposition demands finding unity within difference, but here the fracture is too complete for even the gods to accept.
The Six Lines app includes all 4,096 Yilin verses, each with original ink brush artwork and full commentary. Download on the App Store