師 → 益
Hexagram 7: The Army → Hexagram 42: Increase
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 5, 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 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 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.
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
削根燒株，不生肌膚。病在心腹，日以燋枯。
Cutting the root, burning the stump; no flesh can grow. The sickness is in the heart and belly; daily withering to dryness.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Water hidden within the earth should sustain growth, but here everything is destroyed at the root. The root is cut and the stump is burned; no new flesh can grow. The disease lodges in the heart and gut, and day by day the body withers into charred ruin. The verse describes irreversible destruction: not pruning or trimming, but annihilation of the very capacity for regeneration. From The Army to Increase, wind and thunder should augment growth — yet the verse negates this possibility entirely. When the root system itself is destroyed, even the most favorable conditions for increase cannot produce life. The army's resources, squandered past recovery, leave nothing for renewal to work with.
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