既濟 → 否
Hexagram 63: After Completion → Hexagram 12: Standstill
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 4, 6).
Line 1
初九 曳其輪。濡其尾。无咎。
Nine at the beginning means: He breaks his wheels. He gets his tail in the water. No blame.
Line 3
九三 高宗伐鬼方。三年克之。小人勿用。
Nine in the third place means: The Illustrious Ancestor Disciplines the Devil's Country. After three years he conquers it. Inferior people must not be employed.
Line 4
六四 繻有衣袽。終日戒。
Six in the fourth place means: The finest clothes turn to rags. Be careful all day long.
Line 6
上六 濡其首。厲。
Six at the top means: He gets his head in the water. Danger.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
六喜三福，南至歡國。與喜忻樂，珪我潔德。
Six joys and three blessings; traveling south to the Land of Delight. Sharing in joy and happiness, the jade gui honors my pure virtue.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Water sits above fire, and six joys meet three blessings. One journeys south to the Land of Delight, sharing in happiness and festivity. The jade tablet of gui purifies one's virtue. The verse overflows with auspicious language — joy, blessing, celebration — painting a world where every direction yields good fortune. The gui jade tablet was a ritual symbol of moral refinement in Zhou court ceremony. From After Completion to Standstill, however, the exuberance carries an undertone: heaven and earth cease to communicate, the upper and lower realms separate. Abundance at its peak tips into stagnation. The wise person reads the joy with caution, knowing that even the happiest moment in a completed cycle may precede withdrawal.
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