未濟 → 師
Hexagram 64: Before Completion → Hexagram 7: The Army
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 4, 6).
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
狡兔趯趯，良犬逐咋。雄雌爰爰，為鷹所獲。
The crafty rabbit leaps and bounds; the fine hound pursues and snaps. Male and female tremble together; they are seized by the hawk.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Fire above water, the hunt begins before order is established. A cunning rabbit darts and leaps; a fine hound snaps at its heels. A male and female bird flutter together in alarm, only to be seized by the hawk overhead. The scene is a cascade of predation: the rabbit runs from the dog, the birds flee from the hawk, each creature both hunter and hunted in a layered food chain. From Before Completion to the Army, the chaotic pursuit resolves into water concealed within the earth — disciplined force channeled through proper command. The verse captures war's raw mechanics before strategy refines them. The hawk does not chase; it waits, then strikes. The Army's lesson is that effective force requires not speed but positioning, not aggression but coordinated discipline.
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