巽 → 噬嗑
Hexagram 57: The Gentle Wind → Hexagram 21: Biting Through
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 5 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 4, 5).
Line 1
初六 進退。利武人之貞。
Six at the beginning means: In advancing and in retreating, The perseverance of a warrior furthers.
Line 2
九二 巽在牀下。用史巫。紛若。吉。无咎。
Nine in the second place means: Penetration under the bed. Priests and magicians are used in great number. Good fortune. No blame.
Line 3
九三 頻巽吝。
Nine in the third place means: Repeated penetration. Humiliation.
Line 4
六四 悔亡。田獲三品。
Six in the fourth place means: Remorse vanishes. During the hunt Three kinds of game are caught.
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
鬱怏不明，為陰所傷。眾霧集聚，共奪日光。
Black moths swarm the lamp — the lamp gutters. Night-vines wrap the pillar — the pillar tilts. Four walls without windows, no wind enters; a room sunk in darkness, the air impossible to clear.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Wind upon wind transforms into fire over thunder: the Gentle becomes Biting Through. The original verse reads: 'Gloomy and not bright, injured by yin forces. Massed fogs gather together to steal the sun's light.' Darkness overwhelms illumination as yin energies accumulate unchecked. The imagery is of collective obstruction — not a single enemy but a conspiracy of shadows that extinguish clarity. From The Gentle to Biting Through, the transformation demands decisive action. Lightning and thunder together mean the ancient kings clarified punishments and enforced law. When fog steals daylight, only the sharp bite of judgment can cut through the murk. Gentle penetration alone will not disperse what has massed into deliberate darkness.
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