歸妹 → 家人
Hexagram 54: The Marrying Maiden → Hexagram 37: The Family
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 5 changing lines (lines 2, 3, 4, 5, 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 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.
Line 5
六五 帝乙歸妹。其君之袂。不如其娣之袂良。月幾望吉。
Six in the fifth place means: The sovereign I gave his daughter in marriage. The embroidered garments of the princess Were not as gorgeous As those of the serving maid. The moon that is nearly full Brings good fortune.
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
臭彘腐水，與狼相輔。亡夫失子，憂及父母。
The stinking pig and putrid water; the wolf becomes one's ally. Husband lost and child gone; grief reaches the father and mother.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder over lake transforms into wind over fire: the maiden's disordered union confronts the Family's demand for proper domestic order. Stinking pigs and rotten water keep company with wolves. Husband is lost, son is lost, and the grief reaches even the parents. The verse paints household collapse in the most visceral terms: filth, predators, and bereavement. From the Marrying Maiden to the Family, wind emerges from fire, the image of warmth radiating outward as consistent moral influence. The Family demands that words have substance and conduct have constancy. Here, both have disintegrated. The household has become a sty, and the family unit, which should be the foundation of all social order, is shattered beyond recognition.
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