中孚 → 巽
Hexagram 61: Inner Truth → Hexagram 57: The Gentle Wind
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 1, 3).
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 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.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
膚敏之德,發憤晨食。虜豹擒說,為王得福。
The virtue of keen diligence; rising with resolve for morning meal. Capturing leopard and seizing prey; winning fortune for the king.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Wind stirs above the lake, and one of keen sensitivity and swift virtue rouses at dawn to eat and act. Capturing the leopard and seizing the adversary, one wins fortune for the king. The verse celebrates decisive, early action: the person of 'skin-keen virtue' (膚敏之德) rises before others, acts while the world sleeps, and delivers tangible results. The leopard captured may be literal — a hunt — or figurative for a military prize. From Inner Truth to the Gentle, sincerity meets doubled wind, the image of commands repeated and penetrating. Gentleness here is not softness but thoroughness: the wind that enters every crevice. The dawn hunter embodies this — gentle persistence yielding to decisive capture at the precise moment of advantage.
The Six Lines app includes all 4,096 Yilin verses, each with original ink brush artwork and full commentary. Download on the App Store