未濟 → 謙
Hexagram 64: Before Completion → Hexagram 15: Modesty
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 2, 3, 4, 6).
Line 2
九二 曳其輪。貞吉。
Nine in the second place means: He brakes his wheels. Perseverance brings good fortune.
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 4
九四 貞吉悔亡。震用伐鬼方。三年有賞于大國。
Nine in the fourth place means: Perseverance brings good fortune. Remorse disappears. Shock, thus to discipline the Devil's Country. For three years, great realms are awarded.
Line 6
上九 有孚于飲酒。无咎。濡其首。有孚失是。
Nine at the top means: There is drinking of wine In genuine confidence. No blame. But if one wets his head, He loses it, in truth.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
兩金相擊，勇氣均敵。日月鬭戰，不破不缺。
Two metals clash and strike; courage and strength evenly matched. Sun and moon do battle; neither shattered nor scarred.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Fire above water, forces locked in opposition. Two blades of gold clash together, their courage and strength perfectly matched. Sun and moon wage battle, yet neither is broken nor diminished. The verse presents a contest between equals so evenly balanced that neither can prevail. The gold-on-gold collision suggests not mere combat but a test of quality — only equal metals ring true when struck together. From Before Completion to Modesty, the unresolved confrontation transforms into a mountain hidden within the earth. Modesty resolves what force cannot: when neither side can win by fighting, the one who yields gains the advantage. The mountain conceals itself below the plain, and precisely through this self-lowering, it becomes unassailable.
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