Hexagram 57: The Gentle Wind → Hexagram 31: Influence

The Gentle Wind
Wind / Wind
Influence
Lake / Mountain
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 2, 4, 6).

Line 2

九二 巽在牀下。用史巫。紛若。吉。无咎。

xùnencroach(ment)
zàioccur
chuángthe bed
xiàunder
yòngemploy
shǐscribes
and diviners
fēnan assortment
ruòof such
promising
no
jiùblame(worthy)

Nine in the second place means: Penetration under the bed. Priests and magicians are used in great number. Good fortune. No blame.

Line 4

六四 悔亡。田獲三品。

huǐregret(s)
wángpass
tiánin the field
huòtake
sānthree
pǐnkind

Six in the fourth place means: Remorse vanishes. During the hunt Three kinds of game are caught.

Line 6

上九 巽在牀下。喪其資斧。貞凶。

xùnencroach(ment)
zàioccur
chuángthe bed
xiàunder
sànglosing
one's own
resources
and an ax
zhēnpersistence
xiōngis disappointing

Nine at the top means: Penetration under the bed. He loses his property and his ax. Perseverance brings misfortune.

Trigram Changes

Upper TrigramWind LakeThe Gentle → The Joyous
Lower TrigramWind MountainThe Gentle → Keeping Still

Yilin Verse

无足斷跟,居處不安,凶惡為患。

Without feet, severed at the heel; dwelling finds no peace—evil brings calamity.

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

Commentary

Wind upon wind transforms into lake over mountain: the Gentle becomes Influence. Footless and with heels cut off, dwelling is never safe — calamity and evil bring constant affliction. The verse is starkly physical: mutilation has removed the very means of standing, let alone walking. Without feet and heels, one cannot settle anywhere, perpetually unstable and vulnerable. From The Gentle to Influence, the lake resting upon the mountain should enable the gentleman to receive others with openness. Influence begins at the extremities — the toes, the calves — and rises upward. But here the extremities are destroyed, severing the very channels through which sensation and connection should flow. When the foundation of receptivity is amputated, no influence can take root.

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