中孚 → 剝
Hexagram 61: Inner Truth → Hexagram 23: Splitting Apart
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 5 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 5, 6).
Line 1
初九 虞吉。有他不燕。
Nine at the beginning means: Being prepared brings good fortune. If there are secret designs, it is disquieting.
Line 2
九二 鳴鶴在陰。其子和之。我有好爵。吾與爾靡之。
Nine in the second place means: A crane calling in the shade. Its young answers it. I have a good goblet. I will share it with you.
Line 3
六三 得敵。或鼓或罷。或泣或歌。
Six in the third place means: He finds a comrade. Now he beats the drum, now he stops. Now he sobs, now he sings.
Line 5
九五 有孚攣如。无咎。
Nine in the fifth place means: He possesses truth, which links together. No blame.
Line 6
上九 翰音登于天。貞凶。
Nine at the top means: Cockcrow penetrating to heaven. Perseverance brings misfortune.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
匍伏走出，驚懼皇恐。白虎生孫，蓐收在後。
Crawling and fleeing; terrified and afraid. The white tiger begets its grandson; Rushou follows behind.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Wind stirs above the lake, but terror strikes. One crawls and scrambles out in panic, trembling with imperial dread. The White Tiger begets its offspring, and Rushou follows behind. The White Tiger is the celestial guardian of the west, associated with autumn, metal, and lethal judgment. Rushou (蓐收) is the deity of autumn and punishment, wielding an axe with tiger claws and white hair — the divine executioner who enforces heaven's sentences. From Inner Truth to Splitting Apart, sincerity confronts the mountain crumbling upon the earth. The appearance of these autumnal powers signals stripping away: what seemed solid is being dismantled by cosmic forces that brook no appeal. One can only flee.
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