師 → 大有
Hexagram 7: The Army → Hexagram 14: Great Possession
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 4, 6).
Line 1
初六 師出以律。否臧凶。
Six at the beginning means: An army must set forth in proper order. If the order is not good, misfortune threatens.
Line 3
六三 師或輿尸。凶。
Six in the third place means: Perchance the army carries corpses in the wagon. Misfortune.
Line 4
六四 師左次。无咎。
Six in the fourth place means: The army retreats. No blame.
Line 6
上六 大君有命。開國承家。小人勿用。
Six at the top means: The great prince issues commands, Founds states, vests families with fiefs. Inferior people should not be employed.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
鴻鴈翩翩，始怨勞苦。災疫病民，鰥寡愁憂。
Wild geese fly in disarray; at first they lament toil and hardship. Plague and pestilence afflict the people; the widowed and orphaned are filled with grief.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Water hidden within the earth bears the weight of multitudes, and migrating geese wheel overhead in weary flight. They cry out, resentful of their endless toil. Plague and epidemic ravage the people; the widowed and orphaned know only sorrow. The wild goose, a Yilin emblem of the displaced and overburdened, here carries the exhaustion of soldiers and common folk alike. From The Army to Great Possession, fire blazing in heaven should illuminate prosperity — yet the verse inverts the promise. Abundance is hollow when the people who should enjoy it are broken by disease and loss. The army's mobilization has drained the nation rather than enriched it.
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