歸妹 → 噬嗑
Hexagram 54: The Marrying Maiden → Hexagram 21: Biting Through
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 2, 6).
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 6
上六 女承筐无實。士刲羊无血。无攸利。
Six at the top means: The woman holds the basket, but there are no fruits in it. The man stabs the sheep, but no blood flows. Nothing that acts to further.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
進士為官，不若服田，獲壽保年。
Advancing to serve as an official is not as good as tending the fields; thereby one gains long life and preserves one's years.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder over lake meets fire over thunder: the maiden's subordinate role encounters Biting Through's decisive judgment. Advancing into officialdom is not as good as working the fields; tilling the land secures longevity and preserves one's years. The verse offers a clear-eyed choice: bureaucratic ambition versus agrarian contentment. From the Marrying Maiden to Biting Through, the transformation introduces fire and thunder together, the image of lightning that illuminates and punishes. Biting Through's mandate is to bite through obstruction with clear penalties and laws. Yet the verse sidesteps this mechanism entirely, preferring the honest simplicity of farming to the perilous clarity of the legal order. Sometimes the wisest judgment is to refuse the game altogether.
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