既濟

Hexagram 63: After Completion → Hexagram 56: The Wanderer

既濟
After Completion
Water / Fire
The Wanderer
Mountain / Fire
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 5, 6).

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.

Line 6

上六 濡其首。厲。

soaking
that
shǒuhead
harsh

Six at the top means: He gets his head in the water. Danger.

Trigram Changes

Upper TrigramWater MountainThe Deep → Keeping Still
Lower TrigramFire Fire

Yilin Verse

威約拘囚,為人所誣。皋陶平理,剖械出牢,脫歸家閭。

Bound by force and imprisoned, slandered by others. Gaotao judges fairly, breaking the shackles, releasing from prison, returning to home and village.

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

Commentary

Water sits above fire, and one is coerced and imprisoned, falsely accused by others. Then Gao Yao adjudicates with fairness, breaking open the shackles and releasing the prisoner from the dungeon, who returns home to his village. Gao Yao, the legendary minister of justice under Emperors Shun and Yu, embodies the ideal of impartial law that liberates the innocent. From After Completion to the Wanderer, fire-and-water balance yields to fire above the mountain — the traveler's campfire on a strange peak. The freed prisoner does not return to the completed order but emerges into the Wanderer's uncertain terrain. Justice has set him free, but the road home passes through unfamiliar country, and the fire that lights his way is small and temporary.

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