Hexagram 6: Conflict → Hexagram 1: The Creative

Conflict
Heaven / Water
The Creative
Heaven / Heaven
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 1, 3).

Line 1

初六 不永所事。小有言。終吉。

to avoid
yǒngprolong
suǒcertain
shìaffairs
xiǎothe small
yǒuhave
yánthings to say
zhōngin the end
auspicious

Six at the beginning means: If one does not perpetuate the affair, There is a little gossip. In the end, good fortune comes.

Line 3

六三 食舊德。貞。厲終吉。或從王事。无成。

shíincorporating
jiùlong-standing
virtues
zhēnin order to persist
difficult
zhōngbut in the end
auspicious
huòas
cóngpursuing
wángsovereign
shìaffairs
no
chéngachievement

Six in the third place means: To nourish oneself on ancient virtue induces perseverance. Danger. In the end, good fortune comes. If by chance you are in the service of a king, Seek not works.

Trigram Changes

Upper TrigramHeaven Heaven
Lower TrigramWater HeavenThe Deep → The Creative

Yilin Verse

文王四乳,仁愛篤厚。子畜十男,夭折無有。

King Wen had four teats, benevolent and deeply generous. He raised ten sons; not one died young.

— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE

Commentary

Heaven and water move in opposition, the image of Conflict, yet here the sage transcends strife through sheer moral abundance. King Wen of Zhou, marked by the omen of four nipples — a sign of extraordinary virtue in classical tradition — raised ten sons without a single one dying young. His benevolence was so profound that it extended to every child under his care. From Conflict to the Creative, the transformation is from opposition to pure initiative: where two forces pull apart, a figure of such moral gravity unifies them. The doubled heaven of Qian demands self-generating strength, and King Wen's fecundity — both biological and civilizational — embodies exactly that tireless creative power.

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