Hexagram 7: The Army → Hexagram 15: Modesty

The Army
Earth / Water
Modesty
Earth / Mountain
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 2, 3).

Line 2

九二 在師中吉。无咎。王三錫命。

zàiat
shīthe militia
zhōngthe center
promising
nothing
jiùblame
wángthe sovereign
sānthree times
grants
mìngdecrees

Nine in the second place means: In the midst of the army. Good fortune. No blame. The king bestows a triple decoration.

Line 3

六三 師或輿尸。凶。

shīthe militia
huòmay
輿to transport
shīdead bodies
xiōngunfortunate

Six in the third place means: Perchance the army carries corpses in the wagon. Misfortune.

Trigram Changes

Upper TrigramEarth Earth
Lower TrigramWater MountainThe Deep → Keeping Still

Yilin Verse

穿胸狗邦,僵離旁舂。天地易紀,日月更始。

The pierced-chest people, the dog-country folk; stiff and fallen, pounding at the side. Heaven and earth alter their reckoning; sun and moon begin anew.

— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE

Commentary

Water hidden within the earth governs the multitude, yet the verse opens onto strange and alien terrain. The Pierced-Chest People and the Dog-Country — fantastical peoples from the Shanhaijing and its tradition — lie stiff and pounded beside their posts. These are the exotic borderlands beyond civilization's reach, where normal order does not hold. Then the verse pivots sharply: heaven and earth exchange their calendar, sun and moon begin anew. From The Army to Modesty, the mountain hidden within the earth, chaos at the margins gives way to cosmic renewal. What seemed monstrous and disordered resolves through modesty's leveling power: the high is brought low, the low raised up, and the world resets.

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