師 → 旅
Hexagram 7: The Army → Hexagram 56: The Wanderer
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 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 3
六三 師或輿尸。凶。
Six in the third place means: Perchance the army carries corpses in the wagon. 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
空槽注豬,獖彘不到。張弓祝雞,雄父飛去。
An empty trough poured for pigs; the gelded boar does not come. Drawing a bow at the rooster; the cock flies away.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Water hidden within the earth prepares for action, but every target slips away. The feeding trough is set out to lure pigs, but the boar never arrives. A bow is drawn and incantations chanted to summon the rooster, but the cock flies off instead. Every preparation meets evasion: the quarry senses the trap and refuses to cooperate. From The Army to The Wanderer, fire burns atop the mountain in transient, homeless illumination. The army's careful preparations are wasted on targets that refuse to stay — like the wanderer, everything of value moves on, leaving the strategist grasping at empty troughs and scattered feathers.
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