Hexagram 56: The Wanderer → Hexagram 31: Influence

The Wanderer
Mountain / Fire
Influence
Lake / Mountain
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 4, 5, 6).

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 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.

Line 5

六五 射雉。一矢亡。終以譽命。

shèshooting
zhìthe pheasant [as a gift for the local noble]
one
shǐarrow
wángis lost
zhōngbut in the end
for the sake of
praise
mìngand commission

Six in the fifth place means: He shoots a pheasant. It drops with the first arrow. In the end this brings both praise and office.

Line 6

上九 鳥焚其巢。旅人先笑後號咷。喪牛于易。凶。

niǎolike a
fénthat
its own
cháonest
this wandering
rénone
xiānbegins
xiàoto laugh(ter
hòufollowed by
háowailing
táoand weeping
sàngforfeiting
niúcattle
in
the exchange
xiōnginauspicious

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

Upper TrigramMountain LakeKeeping Still → The Joyous
Lower TrigramFire MountainThe Clinging → Keeping Still

Yilin Verse

金梁銕柱,千年牢固。完全不腐,聖人安處。

Golden beams, iron pillars; steadfast for a thousand years. Whole and uncorrupted; the sage dwells there in peace.

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

Commentary

Fire on the mountain, and below stands a structure built to last a thousand years. Golden beams and iron pillars — complete, incorruptible, unrotting — provide a dwelling where the sage rests in peace. This is architecture as permanence incarnate: no wanderer's tent or roadside inn, but a fortress of enduring materials. The verse offers the opposite of transience: what is built with the strongest elements need never be rebuilt. From The Wanderer to Influence, a lake rests atop the mountain, and the open heart receives all. The sage's secure dwelling is not a sealed vault but an open structure — firm in its foundations yet receptive at its summit. True permanence comes from influence that endures because its core is unshakable.

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