未濟 → 頤
Hexagram 64: Before Completion → Hexagram 27: Nourishment
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 4).
Line 1
初六 濡其尾。吝。
Six at the beginning means: He gets his tail in the water. Humiliating.
Line 2
九二 曳其輪。貞吉。
Nine in the second place means: He brakes his wheels. Perseverance brings good fortune.
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
𪙨𪙨𪘙𪘙，貧鬼相責。无有歡怡，一日九結。
Gnashing and grinding, bickering and blaming; poverty's ghosts accuse one another. No joy or ease to be found; nine times daily the heart is knotted.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Fire above water, and the household is gnawed by want. The rare characters at the opening (𪙨𪙨𪘙𪘙) are onomatopoeic — the sound of teeth chattering or grinding in distress. Poverty-ghosts press their claims; there is no joy or ease. The heart ties itself in nine knots within a single day. The 'poverty ghost' (貧鬼) was a folk belief: a spectral force that clung to a household, draining its fortune. From Before Completion to Nourishment, fire-over-water transforms into thunder beneath the mountain — the jaw in motion, the act of feeding. The bitter irony is pointed: Nourishment counsels careful speech and moderate eating, but here there is nothing to eat and nothing worth saying. The nourishment hexagram arrives at the moment of starvation.
The Six Lines app includes all 4,096 Yilin verses, each with original ink brush artwork and full commentary. Download on the App Store