未濟 → 乾
Hexagram 64: Before Completion → Hexagram 1: The Creative
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 5).
Line 1
初六 濡其尾。吝。
Six at the beginning means: He gets his tail in the water. Humiliating.
Line 3
六三 未濟征凶。利涉大川。
Six in the third place means: Before completion, attack brings misfortune. It furthers one to cross the great water.
Line 5
六五 貞吉无悔。君子之光。有孚吉。
Six in the fifth place means: Perseverance brings good fortune. No remorse. The light of the superior man is true. Good fortune.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
旦生夕死，名曰嬰鬼，不可得視。
The mayfly's thin wings — flying at dawn, spent by dusk. Never knowing frost or snow, how could it know the seasons?
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Fire sits above water, the image of Before Completion — nothing yet in its proper place. The original verse speaks of a creature born at dawn and dead by dusk, named an 'infant ghost,' too fleeting to even glimpse. This ephemeral being echoes the mayfly's existence: a life so brief it knows neither frost nor the turning of seasons. From Before Completion to the Creative, the transformation is stark — the most transient of beings gives way to heaven's inexhaustible vigor. What cannot sustain itself for a single day stands in perfect contrast to the self-renewing power of pure yang. The verse reads as a warning: without the Creative's capacity for ceaseless self-strengthening, even the brightest spark expires before it can illuminate anything at all.
The Six Lines app includes all 4,096 Yilin verses, each with original ink brush artwork and full commentary. Download on the App Store