中孚

Hexagram 61: Inner Truth → Hexagram 32: Duration

中孚
Inner Truth
Wind / Lake
Duration
Thunder / Wind
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 5 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 4, 5, 6).

Line 1

初九 虞吉。有他不燕。

readiness
promising
yǒuto be
more than this
no
yàncomfort

Nine at the beginning means: Being prepared brings good fortune. If there are secret designs, it is disquieting.

Line 3

六三 得敵。或鼓或罷。或泣或歌。

finding
counterpart
huòmaybe
to beat
huòor maybe
to quit
huòmaybe
to weep
huòor maybe
to sing

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 4

六四 月幾望。馬匹亡。无咎。

yuèmoon
almost
wàngfull
horse
of a pair
wángruns away
no
jiùblame

Six in the fourth place means: The moon nearly at the full. The team horse goes astray. No blame.

Line 5

九五 有孚攣如。无咎。

yǒubeing
true
luánbond
is like
no
jiùblame

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。

hànrooster's
yīncrowing
dēngascend
up to
tiānheaven
zhēnpersistence
xiōngunfortunate

Nine at the top means: Cockcrow penetrating to heaven. Perseverance brings misfortune.

Trigram Changes

Upper TrigramWind ThunderThe Gentle → The Arousing
Lower TrigramLake WindThe Joyous → The Gentle

Yilin Verse

典策法書,藏閣蘭臺。雖遭亂潰,獨不遇災。

Records and law books; stored in the Orchid Terrace pavilion. Though chaos and ruin spread; this alone meets no disaster.

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

Commentary

Wind stirs above the lake, and the canonical books and legal records are preserved in the Orchid Terrace archives. Though turmoil and collapse sweep the realm, these alone escape disaster. The Lantai (蘭臺) was the imperial archive of the Han dynasty, housing official documents, histories, and astronomical records. The verse celebrates the endurance of written knowledge: empires fall, armies scatter, but the texts survive. From Inner Truth to Duration, sincerity meets thunder above wind — the image of steadfast constancy. Duration's lesson is that what endures is not the strongest but the most consistent. The archives persist not through force but through the quiet, persistent truth inscribed within them, outlasting every storm.

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