旅 → 剝
Hexagram 56: The Wanderer → Hexagram 23: Splitting Apart
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 1, 6).
Line 1
初六 旅瑣瑣。斯其所取災。
Six at the beginning means: If the wanderer busies himself with trivial things, He draws down misfortune upon himself.
Line 6
上九 鳥焚其巢。旅人先笑後號咷。喪牛于易。凶。
Nine at the top means: The bird's nest burns up. The wanderer laughs at first, Then must needs lament and weep. Through carelessness he loses his cow. Misfortune.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
去安就危，墜陷井池，破我玉瑀。
Leaving safety for danger, falling into a well and pit; shattering my precious jade.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Fire on the mountain, and the wanderer abandons safety for danger. Leaving secure ground, he stumbles and falls into a well or pool, shattering his precious jade ornament. The jade pendant (玉瑀) is both material treasure and symbol of moral integrity — once broken, it cannot be restored. The verse is a stark warning against reckless movement: the traveler who voluntarily leaves stable ground for unknown terrain loses what is most valuable. From The Wanderer to Splitting Apart, the mountain crumbles upon the earth. Everything solid dissolves from beneath. The jade's destruction parallels the hexagram's erosion: what was whole is stripped away layer by layer until nothing remains but bare ground.
The Six Lines app includes all 4,096 Yilin verses, each with original ink brush artwork and full commentary. Download on the App Store