既濟 → 屯
Hexagram 63: After Completion → Hexagram 3: Difficulty at the Beginning
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 1 changing line (line 3).
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.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
人无足法，緩除才出。雄走羊驚，不失其家。
A man without sure footing; slow to remove what has only just emerged. The rooster runs, the sheep startles, yet neither leaves its home.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Water sits above fire, all in order, yet movement is awkward. A person without proper footing stumbles forward — slow to emerge, cautious in each step. A rooster startles and the sheep scatter, but none strays from home. The verse captures the paradox of difficult birth from a settled state: everything is in place, yet the first steps are halting and ungainly. From After Completion to Difficulty at the Beginning, the stable configuration gives way to thunder churning beneath water — clouds gathering before the first rain. The transition from completion to new genesis is never smooth; one lurches into the unknown, startled and stumbling, yet ultimately finds one's way back to shelter.
The Six Lines app includes all 4,096 Yilin verses, each with original ink brush artwork and full commentary. Download on the App Store