師 → 小畜
Hexagram 7: The Army → Hexagram 9: Small Taming
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 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 3
六三 師或輿尸。凶。
Six in the third place means: Perchance the army carries corpses in the wagon. Misfortune.
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
舜升大禹，石夷之野。徵詣玉闕，拜理水土。
Shun elevates Great Yu, from the wilderness of Shiyi. Summoned to the Jade Palace, appointed to manage flood and soil.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Water hidden within the earth awaits the commander's call, and here Emperor Shun summons Yu the Great from the stony wilds. Yu is called to the jade palace and appointed to manage the waters and the land. The verse recounts the foundational myth of Chinese statecraft: the sage-ruler who identifies talent in the wilderness and elevates it to supreme responsibility. Shun recognized Yu's capacity to tame the great floods — a task demanding both vision and endurance. From The Army to Small Taming, the massive mobilization of flood control is refined into gentle restraint: wind above heaven, the cultivated virtue that channels raw force without breaking it.
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