師 → 剝
Hexagram 7: The Army → Hexagram 23: Splitting Apart
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 2, 6).
Line 2
九二 在師中吉。无咎。王三錫命。
Nine in the second place means: In the midst of the army. Good fortune. No blame. The king bestows a triple decoration.
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
讒父佞雄，賊亂邦國。生雖忠孝，敗恩不福。
Slanderous father, flattering hero; they wreck and disorder the state. Though born loyal and filial; grace is ruined, blessings lost.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Water hidden within the earth should protect the realm, but here slanderous fathers and crafty strongmen bring ruin to the state. Though born loyal and filial, one's devotion is repaid with destroyed grace and denied blessings. The verse captures the tragedy of the faithful servant undone by slander: personal virtue cannot overcome systemic corruption when those at the top are complicit in deception. From The Army to Splitting Apart, the mountain crumbles upon the earth. The army's structure collapses layer by layer as treacherous ministers erode its foundation. What should have been orderly command disintegrates under the weight of lies.
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