既濟 → 頤
Hexagram 63: After Completion → Hexagram 27: Nourishment
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 3, 5, 6).
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 5
九五 東鄰殺牛。不如西鄰之禴祭。實受其福。
Nine in the fifth place means: The neighbor in the east who slaughters an ox Does not attain as much real happiness As the neighbor in the west With his small offering.
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
抱瓌求金，日暮坐吟。終月卒歲，竟无成功。
Clutching jade, seeking gold; as the sun sets, sitting and sighing. Month after month, year after year, in the end no success.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Water sits above fire, but one clutches a precious jade and seeks gold — sitting and sighing as the day grows late. Month after month, year after year, nothing is achieved. The verse depicts frustration born of misplaced expectation: holding treasure yet wanting more, the person wastes time lamenting instead of acting. From After Completion to Nourishment, fire-and-water order yields to the mountain above thunder — the open mouth that must learn what to take in and what to refuse. Nourishment requires discernment about what truly sustains. The completed person who cannot distinguish between what he holds and what he lacks starves amid plenty, unable to nourish himself because desire has eclipsed gratitude.
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