Hexagram 56: The Wanderer → Hexagram 23: Splitting Apart

The Wanderer
Fire / Mountain
Splitting Apart
Mountain / Earth
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 3, 4).

Line 3

九三 旅焚其次。喪其童僕。貞厲。

the wanderer
fénburns
this
camp
sàngand lose
this
tóngyoung
servant
zhēnpersistence(ing)
is difficult

Nine in the third place means: The wanderer's inn burns down. He loses the steadfastness of his young servant. Danger.

Line 4

九四 旅于處。得其資斧。我心不快。

the wanderer
is
chùthe shelter
having secured
his
resources
and an ax
but lamenting 'my...
xīnheart
is not
kuàihappy

Nine in the fourth place means: The wanderer rests in a shelter. He obtains his property and an ax. My heart is not glad.

Trigram Changes

Upper TrigramFire MountainThe Clinging → Keeping Still
Lower TrigramMountain EarthKeeping Still → The Receptive

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.

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