既濟 → 困
Hexagram 63: After Completion → Hexagram 47: Oppression
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 4).
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 2
六二 婦喪其茀。勿逐。七日得。
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 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.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
辰次降婁，建星中堅，子无遠行。外顛霄陷，遂命訖終。
When the chronogram reaches Lowering Lou and the Building Star stands firm, a son should not travel far. Beyond lies falling and sinking into the void; thus life's mandate ends.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Water sits above fire, and the celestial stations align at the Jianlou lodge while the Jianxing star stands at the meridian — a configuration that warns against distant travel. Do not venture far. Beyond the gate, one falls into a celestial pit and one's fate reaches its end. The verse deploys Han-dynasty astrology to issue a stark prohibition: the stars forbid travel, and those who ignore the warning perish. From After Completion to Oppression, fire-and-water balance yields to the lake drained of water — Oppression's image of exhaustion. The completed order, read through the star chart, reveals that the current configuration is terminal. Oppression here is cosmic, not personal: the heavens themselves have closed the road.
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