小畜 → 蠱
Hexagram 9: Small Taming → Hexagram 18: Work on the Decayed
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 1, 5).
Line 1
初九 復自道。何其咎。吉。
Nine at the beginning means: Return to the way. How could there be blame in this? Good fortune.
Line 5
九五 有孚攣如。富以其鄰。
Nine in the fifth place means: If you are sincere and loyally attached, You are rich in your neighbor.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
寄生無根，如過浮雲；本立不固，斯須落去，更為枯樹。
The parasitic plant has no roots, like a passing floating cloud. Its base not firmly established; in an instant it drops away, becoming a withered tree.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Wind above heaven meets wind trapped beneath the mountain — decay eating at the root. A parasitic vine has no root of its own, drifting like a passing cloud. Its foundation never held firm; in an instant it drops away, leaving only a dead tree. From Small Taming to Work on the Decayed, the verse diagnoses precisely what Gu addresses: structural rot. The parasite flourished by borrowing another's vitality, never establishing independent support. When that host weakens, collapse is instantaneous. Gu's counsel — to invigorate the people and cultivate virtue — demands exactly what the parasite lacked: an autonomous root system. Without it, even apparent growth is merely borrowed time floating overhead.
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