未濟 → 蠱
Hexagram 64: Before Completion → Hexagram 18: Work on the Decayed
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 3, 4).
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.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
蜘蛛作網，以伺行旅。青蠅嚵聚，以求膏腴。觸我羅絆，為網所得。
The spider weaves her web; awaiting travelers on the road. Blue flies gather in greed; seeking fat and sweet. Touching my snare and trap; caught within the net.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Fire above water, and a trap is being woven. The spider spins its web, lying in wait for travelers. Green flies swarm greedily, drawn to rich fat. Whoever touches the snare is caught in the net. The verse is a miniature fable of corruption: the spider represents systemic entrapment, the flies embody those who pursue easy gain, and the web catches all who blunder into its reach. From Before Completion to Work on the Decayed, the unresolved fire-over-water transforms into wind trapped beneath a mountain — the image of decay, of old structures infested and rotting from within. The spider's web is precisely the kind of corruption that Work on the Decayed addresses: something that must be torn down and rebuilt, not merely endured.
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