歸妹 → 睽
Hexagram 54: The Marrying Maiden → Hexagram 38: Opposition
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 1 changing line (line 6).
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
刲羊不當，女執空筐。兔跛鹿踦，緣山墜墮。讒佞亂作。
Slaughtering the sheep, missing the mark; the woman holds an empty basket. The hare limps, the deer stumbles; along the mountain's edge they tumble and fall. Slander and flattery run rampant.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder over lake shifts to fire over lake: the maiden's subordinate tension escalates into Opposition's estranged vision. The sheep is slaughtered incorrectly; the woman holds an empty basket. A lame rabbit and a limping deer stumble along the mountainside and tumble off the edge. Slanderers and flatterers stir chaos everywhere. Every image conveys mishandled ritual and botched endeavor: the sacrifice fails, the harvest basket comes back empty, even the animals cannot navigate the terrain. From the Marrying Maiden to Opposition, fire and lake pull in opposite directions, each element repelling the other. The verse captures Opposition's essential dynamic: when perspectives diverge beyond reconciliation, even simple tasks go wrong, and sycophants rush in to fill the vacuum of trust.
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