Hexagram 6: Conflict → Hexagram 10: Treading

Conflict
Heaven / Water
Treading
Heaven / Lake
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 1 changing line (line 1).

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.

Trigram Changes

Upper TrigramHeaven Heaven
Lower TrigramWater LakeThe Deep → The Joyous

Yilin Verse

樹植藿豆,不得芸鋤。王事靡盬,秋無所收。

Planting beans and greens, unable to weed or hoe. The king's affairs are unending; come autumn, nothing to harvest.

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

Commentary

Heaven and water oppose, and the farmer bears the cost. Beans and mallows are planted, but there is no time to weed or hoe — royal service never ceases, and by autumn the harvest yields nothing. The verse echoes the Shijing soldiers' lament: 'The king's business knows no rest.' From Conflict to Treading, heaven stands above the lake, the strong treading upon the yielding. Treading demands one walk correctly even under the tiger's gaze, yet here the farmer cannot even tend his own field. The cosmic protocol of Treading — knowing one's place, fulfilling one's role — is violated by a system that devours the very labor it depends on.

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