巽 → 屯
Hexagram 57: The Gentle Wind → Hexagram 3: Difficulty at the Beginning
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 6).
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 6
上九 巽在牀下。喪其資斧。貞凶。
Nine at the top means: Penetration under the bed. He loses his property and his ax. Perseverance brings misfortune.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
仁政之德，參參日息。成都就邑，入受厥福。
The virtue of benevolent rule; daily it grows and flourishes. The capital complete, the towns established; all enter to receive their blessings.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Wind upon wind transforms into thunder beneath water: gentle influence gives way to the struggle of new beginnings. Benevolent governance accumulates its virtue day by day, growing steadily like grain under careful tending. Cities are established, settlements completed, and the people enter to receive their blessings. The verse celebrates the slow work of civilization: not conquest but cultivation, not spectacle but steady institutional growth. From The Gentle to Difficulty at the Beginning, the transformation captures the hardest phase of statecraft — the moment when gentle policy must push through the chaos of founding. Clouds and thunder gather, but the gentleman who persists in weaving order will see his settlements flourish and his people prosper.
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