Hexagram 6: Conflict → Hexagram 40: Deliverance

Conflict
Heaven / Water
Deliverance
Thunder / Water
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 5, 6).

Line 5

九五 訟。元吉。

sòngthe contest
yuánis most
promising

Nine in the fifth place means: To contend before him Brings supreme good fortune.

Line 6

上九 或錫之鞶帶。終朝三褫之。

huòsomebody
awards
zhīone
pánthe leather big
dàiand ribbons
zhōngby the end of
zhāothe morning
sānone will be three times
chǐstripped
zhīof them

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

Upper TrigramHeaven ThunderThe Creative → The Arousing
Lower TrigramWater Water

Yilin Verse

南徙無廬,鳥破其巢。伐木思初,不利動搖。

Moving south with no shelter; the bird's nest destroyed. Felling timber, thinking of the beginning; movement brings no advantage.

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

Commentary

Heaven and water oppose, and displacement compounds the damage. Migrating south, one finds no shelter; a bird's nest is destroyed. Then comes the reflection: 'cutting wood, I think of how it began' — regretting the first stroke. Movement now would only deepen the harm. From Conflict to Deliverance, thunder and rain burst forth, clearing the air. Xie's image is the storm that breaks tension and washes clean. Yet the verse resists premature relief: the nest is already shattered, and impulsive action will only scatter the pieces further. Deliverance comes not from more movement but from stillness after the storm — letting the rain settle before trying to rebuild.

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