兌 → 需
Hexagram 58: The Joyous Lake → Hexagram 5: Waiting
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 3, 4).
Line 3
六三 來兌凶。
Six in the third place means: Coming joyousness. Misfortune.
Line 4
九四 商兌未寧。介疾有喜。
Nine in the fourth place means: Joyousness that is weighed is not at peace. After ridding himself of mistakes a man has joy.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
三年人妻，相隨奔馳。終日不食，精氣勞疲。
Three years a man's wife, following him in constant flight. All day without food, spirit and strength utterly spent.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Paired lakes suggest shared joy, but here the waters run dry. A woman married three years follows her husband in ceaseless travel, going all day without food, her spirit and energy utterly exhausted. The verse depicts the weariness of devotion pushed past endurance — not betrayal, but fidelity ground down by circumstance. Clouds gather above heaven in the image of Waiting, heavy with moisture that has not yet fallen. From The Joyous to Waiting, exhaustion paradoxically demands patience. The wife's suffering is not purposeless: it is the long accumulation before relief finally arrives. Need's image insists that nourishment exists but requires stillness to receive it. Even the most faithful heart must learn to wait for its season, trusting that the rain will come.
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