未濟 → 需
Hexagram 64: Before Completion → Hexagram 5: Waiting
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 5 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 4, 5, 6).
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 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 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.
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
山水暴怒，壞折梁柱。稽難行旅，留連愁苦。
Mountain waters rage in fury; they shatter beams and pillars. The way is blocked for travelers; they linger on in sorrow and distress.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Fire above water, the elements in mutual tension. Mountain torrents erupt in sudden fury, smashing beams and pillars. Travelers are stranded, unable to advance, lingering in sorrow and distress. The verse is elemental destruction: water's stored energy detonates without warning, obliterating the structures that channel it. From Before Completion to Waiting, the fire-over-water transforms into water looming above heaven — danger suspended overhead, demanding patience rather than action. The traveler who tries to force passage through the flood will drown; the one who waits for the waters to subside may yet cross. Waiting here is not passivity but survival — recognizing that some forces must be endured, not confronted.
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