漸 → 家人
Hexagram 53: Development → Hexagram 37: The Family
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 1 changing line (line 1).
Line 1
初六 鴻漸于干。小子厲有言。無咎。
Six at the beginning means: The wild goose gradually draws near the shore. The young son is in danger. There is talk. No blame.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
大根不固,華葉落去,更為孤嫗。
The great root is not secure; blossoms and leaves fall away, leaving only a lonely old woman.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Wind over mountain yields to wind emerging from fire: gradual development meets the order of the Family. The great root is not firm; flowers and leaves fall away, leaving behind only a lonely old woman. A tree whose root fails loses everything above ground: blossoms, foliage, shade. What remains is solitude and age. From Development to the Family, wind issues from fire, words must have substance, and actions must have constancy. Yet the verse presents a family in dissolution: the matriarch is left alone because the foundation was never secured. Gradual growth that neglects its root system produces a hollow trunk. The Family hexagram's insistence on constancy resonates as a warning: without firm grounding, the family tree sheds its members one by one.
The Six Lines app includes all 4,096 Yilin verses, each with original ink brush artwork and full commentary. Download on the App Store