師 → 坎
Hexagram 7: The Army → Hexagram 29: The Abysmal Water
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 1 changing line (line 5).
Line 5
六五 田有禽。利執言。无咎。長子帥師。弟子輿尸。貞凶。
Six in the fifth place means: There is game in the field. It furthers one to catch it. Without blame. Let the eldest lead the army. The younger transports corpses; Then perseverance brings misfortune.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
國亂不安，兵革為患。掠我妻子，家中飢寒。
The state in turmoil, unsafe; arms and war bring disaster. Seizing my wife and children; the household suffers hunger and cold.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Water hidden within the earth should shelter the people, but the state is in turmoil and war ravages all. Arms and soldiers bring disaster; wives and children are carried off, and the household is left in hunger and cold. The verse strips warfare to its human cost: the army that should protect instead devours those it was meant to defend. From The Army to The Abysmal, water doubles upon water in relentless peril. The army's ordered water, meant to nourish, becomes the abyss that swallows everything. There is no bottom to this danger — only the constant practice of integrity can navigate waters that offer no shore.
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