訟 → 坎
Hexagram 6: Conflict → Hexagram 29: The Abysmal Water
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 4, 6).
Line 4
九四 不克訟。復即命。渝安貞。吉。
Nine in the fourth place means: One cannot engage in conflict. One turns back and submits to fate, Changes one's attitude, And finds peace in perseverance. Good fortune.
Line 6
上九 或錫之鞶帶。終朝三褫之。
Nine at the top means: Even if by chance a leather belt is bestowed on one, By the end of a morning It will have been snatched away three times.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
初憂後喜，與福為市。八佾列陳，飲御諸友。
First worry, then joy; trading sorrow for fortune. Eight rows arranged in columns; drinking with all friends.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Heaven and water oppose — initial worry gives way to later joy, as fortune is traded in the marketplace of fate. Eight rows of dancers form their ranks, and wine is shared with all assembled friends. The 'eight rows' (八佾) evoke the grandest ritual dance formation, reserved for the Son of Heaven — a symbol of perfect ceremonial order restored after disorder. From Conflict to The Abysmal, water doubles upon water, peril upon peril. Yet the verse inverts the expected danger: what begins in anxiety resolves in feasting. The Abysmal's lesson is that sincerity carried through repeated danger ultimately prevails. Here, the one who perseveres through initial worry reaches the banquet on the other side of the abyss.
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