Hexagram 56: The Wanderer → Hexagram 27: Nourishment

The Wanderer
Fire / Mountain
Nourishment
Mountain / Thunder
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 4).

Line 1

初六 旅瑣瑣。斯其所取災。

the wanderer
suǒis mean
suǒand frivolous
as such
this
suǒplace
draws
zāiadversity

Six at the beginning means: If the wanderer busies himself with trivial things, He draws down misfortune upon himself.

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 ThunderKeeping Still → The Arousing

Yilin Verse

六人俱行,各遺其囊。黃鵠失珠,无以為明。

The merchant caravan crosses the river — goods sink in the current. Baggage slips from the donkey's back, uncollectable. Night falls, the lamp is lit — but it too goes out. Groping forward in darkness, each person worries alone.

— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE

Commentary

Fire on the mountain, and six travelers lose everything on the road. The original verse — 'Six people journey together, each losing his bag; the yellow swan loses its pearl and has nothing for light' — depicts a collective calamity on the road. Belongings scatter, and the luminous pearl that should guide the way is gone, leaving only darkness. The yellow swan (黃鵠) losing its pearl suggests the loss of the one precious thing that made the journey navigable. From The Wanderer to Nourishment, the mountain rests above thunder, counseling careful speech and measured consumption. The verse warns that travelers who cannot safeguard their provisions arrive at Nourishment's gate with nothing to sustain them — mouths open but no food to enter.

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