歸妹 → 謙
Hexagram 54: The Marrying Maiden → Hexagram 15: Modesty
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 4).
Line 1
初九 歸妹以娣。跛能履。征吉。
Nine at the beginning means: The marrying maiden as a concubine. A lame man who is able to tread. Undertakings bring good fortune.
Line 2
九二 眇能視。利幽人之貞。
Nine in the second place means: A one-eyed man who is able to see. The perseverance of a solitary man furthers.
Line 3
六三 歸妹以須。反歸以娣。
Six in the third place means: The marrying maiden as a slave. She marries as a concubine.
Line 4
九四 歸妹愆期。遲歸有時。
Nine in the fourth place means: The marrying maiden draws out the allotted time. A late marriage comes in due course.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
死友絕朋，巧言為讒。覆白污玉，顏叔哀喑。
Friends dead, companions gone; clever words become slander. White is smeared, jade defiled; Yan Shu grieves in silence.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder over lake descends into earth over mountain: the maiden's exposed position meets Modesty's concealed strength. Friends perish and companions vanish, destroyed by cunning slander that paints white as black and stains jade with filth. Yan Shuzi, the paragon of propriety who once held a candle through the night to shelter a woman without impropriety, is left mute with grief. According to tradition, when a woman sought shelter from a storm, Yan Shuzi burned candles all night to preserve propriety, yet slanderers still attacked his reputation. From the Marrying Maiden to Modesty, the transformation buries the mountain beneath the earth. True virtue, like Yan Shuzi's, endures beneath the surface even when slander strips away all visible recognition.
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