渙 → 歸妹
Hexagram 59: Dispersion → Hexagram 54: The Marrying Maiden
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 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 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
妺為貌熟，敗君正色。作事不成，自為心賊。
The younger sister's beauty is ripe, ruining the lord's proper bearing. His endeavors fail to succeed; he becomes the thief of his own heart.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Wind scatters over water, and here beauty itself becomes the agent of dissolution. Mei, the legendary seductress — possibly an echo of the concubine Daji or the femme fatale archetype — presents a ripe and alluring face, but her beauty corrupts the lord's upright character. Undertakings fail, and the man becomes his own worst enemy, his heart turned thief against itself. Thunder above the lake creates the image of the Marrying Maiden — the younger sister given in marriage, a position of structural subordination. From Dispersion to the Marrying Maiden, desire scatters judgment. The lord who falls for beguiling appearances acts against his own interests, and every enterprise collapses. The 'heart-thief' — self-sabotage through infatuation — is Dispersion's most intimate form of damage.
The Six Lines app includes all 4,096 Yilin verses, each with original ink brush artwork and full commentary. Download on the App Store