渙 → 屯
Hexagram 59: Dispersion → Hexagram 3: Difficulty at the Beginning
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 6).
Line 1
初六 用拯馬壯吉。
Six at the beginning means: He brings help with the strength of a horse. Good fortune.
Line 2
九二 渙奔其机。悔亡。
Nine in the second place means: At the dissolution He hurries to that which supports him. Remorse disappears.
Line 6
上九 渙其血。去逖出。无咎。
Nine at the top means: He dissolves his blood. Departing, keeping at a distance, going out, Is without blame.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
兩犬爭鬭，股瘡无處。不成仇讎，行解邪去。
Two dogs fight and struggle; wounds cover their haunches without relief. Yet they do not become true enemies; the conflict resolves and evil departs.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Wind over water scatters cohesion, and here two dogs fight savagely, leaving wounds on their flanks and thighs. Yet the verse pivots: the conflict does not harden into lasting enmity. The brawl exhausts itself, hostility disperses, and what seemed like sworn vendetta simply walks away. Cloud and thunder mingle in Difficulty at the Beginning — the chaos of birth, where opposing forces clash before finding their form. From Dispersion to Difficulty at the Beginning, the transformation reveals that scattering an entrenched conflict allows raw, unstructured energy to emerge. The dogs' quarrel, painful but finite, clears the ground for a new configuration — messy, unresolved, but no longer poisoned by old grudges.
The Six Lines app includes all 4,096 Yilin verses, each with original ink brush artwork and full commentary. Download on the App Store