既濟

Hexagram 63: After Completion → Hexagram 46: Pushing Upward

既濟
After Completion
Water / Fire
Pushing Upward
Earth / Wind
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 5).

Line 1

初九 曳其輪。濡其尾。无咎。

braking
those
lúnwheels
soaking
that
wěitail
no
jiùblame

Nine at the beginning means: He breaks his wheels. He gets his tail in the water. No blame.

Line 2

六二 婦喪其茀。勿逐。七日得。

the matron
sàngloses
her
veil
do not
zhúpursue this
there will be seven
days
to gain

Six in the second place means: The woman loses the curtain of her carriage. Do not run after it; On the seventh day you will get it.

Line 5

九五 東鄰殺牛。不如西鄰之禴祭。實受其福。

dōngthe eastern
línneighbor
shāsacrifices
niúcattle
but
comparable
西the western
línneighbor
zhī's
yuèmodest
offering
shíthe genuine
shòuenjoy
these
blessings

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.

Trigram Changes

Upper TrigramWater EarthThe Deep → The Receptive
Lower TrigramFire WindThe Clinging → The Gentle

Yilin Verse

跌躓未起,後失利市。蒙被咎殃。

Stumbling, not yet risen, afterward losing the profitable market. Covered in blame and misfortune.

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

Commentary

Water sits above fire, but one stumbles and has not yet risen when the market opportunity is already lost. One suffers blame and misfortune. The verse captures the cruelty of timing: a single fall at the wrong moment costs everything, because the market will not wait. From After Completion to Pushing Upward, fire-and-water balance yields to wood growing within the earth — the slow, steady ascent. Yet the verse is anti-Pushing Upward: instead of rising methodically, one has fallen and cannot recover in time. The completed state that should have provided a platform for gradual advancement instead produces a stumble from which there is no recovery. Upward momentum requires an unbroken sequence; one gap in the rhythm and the ascent is forfeit.

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