Hexagram 56: The Wanderer → Hexagram 6: Conflict

The Wanderer
Mountain / Fire
Conflict
Heaven / Water
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 5 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 4, 5).

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 2

六二 旅即次。懷其資。得童僕貞。

the wanderer
comes to
an en)camp(ment)
huáicherish
these
resources
and gain
tónga young
servant
zhēnpersistence

Six in the second place means: The wanderer comes to an inn. He has his property with him. He wins the steadfastness of a young servant.

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.

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.

Trigram Changes

Upper TrigramMountain HeavenKeeping Still → The Creative
Lower TrigramFire WaterThe Clinging → The Deep

Yilin Verse

秋蚕不成,冬種不生。殷王逆理,棄其寵榮。

Autumn silkworms yield no silk; winter planting bears no life. The Yin king defied right reason and cast away his honored glory.

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

Commentary

Fire on the mountain scorches the harvest before its time. Autumn silkworms fail to spin their cocoons; winter seeds refuse to germinate — every endeavor launched against the natural season comes to nothing. The verse then names 'the Yin king who defied reason,' almost certainly referencing the last Shang tyrant Zhou, whose cruelty and perversion of the cosmic order led him to discard his own glory. From The Wanderer to Conflict, fire meets heaven moving against water. The Yin king's tragedy is precisely the Conflict hexagram's warning: acting contrary to the natural flow invites contention with heaven itself. A ruler who abandons propriety is a wanderer who has lost not merely his home but his mandate.

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