巽 → 革
Hexagram 57: The Gentle Wind → Hexagram 49: Revolution
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 4, 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 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
使燕築室，身不庇宿。家无聊賴，殲我衣服。
Employing swallows to build a house; but the body finds no shelter. The household has nothing to rely on; even my clothes are destroyed.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Wind upon wind transforms into lake over fire: the Gentle becomes Revolution. Sending swallows to build a house, one's own body finds no shelter. The household has nothing to rely on; one's clothing is stripped away. The verse uses a bitter metaphor: commissioning migratory birds — creatures that by nature leave — to construct a permanent dwelling is absurd. The project fails, the builder is left exposed, the family destitute. From The Gentle to Revolution, fire within the lake — the calendar is reformed, the seasons realigned. Revolution demands that what has decayed be fundamentally transformed. But here the revolution fails because the wrong agent was chosen. Delegating essential work to those whose nature is to depart guarantees that nothing lasting will be built.
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