巽 → 蠱
Hexagram 57: The Gentle Wind → Hexagram 18: Work on the Decayed
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 1 changing line (line 5).
Line 5
九五 貞吉悔亡。无不利。无初有終。先庚三日。後庚三日。吉。
Nine in the fifth place means: Perseverance brings good fortune. Remorse vanishes. Nothing that does not further. No beginning, but an end. Before the change, three days. After the change, three days. Good fortune.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
平國不君，夏氏作亂。烏號竊發，靈公殞命。
Candle shadows flicker red — the sound of an axe runs cold. Behind the screen, a bowstring twangs in the dark. The wise lord departs and the dragon throne grows cold — in court, there will be no more peaceful days.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Wind upon wind transforms into mountain over wind: the Gentle becomes Work on the Decayed. The original verse reads: 'The state of Ping was without a true ruler; the Xia clan raised a rebellion. The Wuhao bow was secretly drawn, and Duke Ling lost his life.' This refers to Duke Ling of Chen, assassinated in 599 BC by Xia Zhengshu. The Duke had carried on an open affair with Xia Ji and publicly mocked her son Zhengshu. The young man ambushed the duke with an arrow as he left the Xia residence. From The Gentle to Work on the Decayed, the transformation is exact: wind beneath the mountain signifies corruption festering below an outwardly stable surface. What decays must be repaired — but here the rot was the ruler himself.
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