巽 → 萃
Hexagram 57: The Gentle Wind → Hexagram 45: Gathering Together
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 2, 3, 4, 6).
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 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
魚擾水濁，寇圍吾邑。城危不安，驚恐狂惑。
Fish stir the water to mud; bandits surround our city. The walls imperiled, no peace; terror and madness prevail.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Wind upon wind transforms into lake over earth: the Gentle becomes Gathering. Fish thrash and the water turns murky; invaders surround our city. The walls are in peril, no safety to be found — terror and bewildered panic on all sides. Stirred-up fish muddying the water is a classic image of disorder spreading from below: when the depths are agitated, clarity is lost entirely. The siege compounds the metaphor into military crisis. From The Gentle to Gathering, the lake assembles upon the earth — the ancient kings prepared weapons and guarded against the unforeseen. The verse shows why such preparation is necessary: when gathering goes wrong, it becomes not congregation but encirclement. The enemy gathers around the walls, and the city that should shelter its people becomes a trap.
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