渙 → 大壯
Hexagram 59: Dispersion → Hexagram 34: Great Power
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 5 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 4, 5, 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 3
六三 渙其躬。无悔。
Six in the third place means: He dissolves his self. No remorse.
Line 4
六四 渙其羣元吉。渙有丘。匪夷所思。
Six in the fourth place means: He dissolves his bond with his group. Supreme good fortune. Dispersion leads in turn to accumulation. This is something that ordinary men do not think of.
Line 5
九五 渙汗其大號。渙。王居无咎。
Nine in the fifth place means: His loud cries are as dissolving as sweat. Dissolution! A king abides without blame.
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
鬼哭於社，悲傷无後。甲子昧爽，殷人絕祀。
Ghosts weep at the earth altar, mourning that they have no heirs. At dim dawn on the jiazi day, the people of Yin lost their sacrifices forever.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Wind over water disperses the spirits of the vanquished. Ghosts weep at the earth altar, mourning the extinction of their line. At the jiazi dawn — the same cyclical day named in the Book of Documents' 'Oath at Mu' — the Yin people's sacrifices are severed forever. This is the Battle of Muye in 1046 BC, when King Wu of Zhou shattered the Shang dynasty. The weeping ghosts are the Shang ancestors, their altar abandoned, their descendants scattered. Thunder above heaven creates the image of Great Power — irresistible force advancing. From Dispersion to Great Power, the verse reveals the terrible finality of dispersion wielded as a weapon: the Zhou army's overwhelming power does not merely defeat the Shang but disperses their spiritual continuity, ending a dynasty at its root.
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