師 → 咸
Hexagram 7: The Army → Hexagram 31: Influence
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 2, 3, 4, 5).
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 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 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
長尾委蛇，畫地成河，深不可涉。絕無以比，惆悵會息。
The long-tailed serpent, winding like a snake; drawing a line on the ground, it becomes a river, deep and uncrossable. Cut off, with nothing to compare; melancholy, then it ceases.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Water hidden within the earth confronts an impassable boundary. A long-tailed serpent winds and coils; a line drawn on the ground becomes a river too deep to cross. There is no way to reach the other side, and one sits in melancholy, sighing until the feeling subsides. The 'drawn river' evokes the legendary gesture of creating barriers from nothing — an authority that simply declares separation and makes it real. From The Army to Influence, the lake rests upon the mountain in mutual attraction. Yet the verse negates this promise: despite the hexagram of connection, the barrier holds. Influence requires openness, but the line-drawn river admits no crossing.
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