小畜 → 晉
Hexagram 9: Small Taming → Hexagram 35: Progress
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 5 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 4, 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 2
九二 牽復。吉。
Nine in the second place means: He allows himself to be drawn into returning. Good fortune.
Line 3
九三 輿說輻。夫妻反目。
Nine in the third place means: The spokes burst out of the wagon wheels. Man and wife roll their eyes.
Line 4
六四 有孚。血去惕出。无咎。
Six in the fourth place means: If you are sincere, blood vanishes and fear gives way. No blame.
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
牛驥同堂，郭氏已亡；國破空虛，君奔走逃。
Cattle and thoroughbreds share one stable; the Guo clan is already lost. The state broken and emptied; the lord flees in haste.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Wind above heaven gives way to fire emerging from the earth — Progress, the sun rising at dawn. Yet here the dawn illuminates ruin. Oxen and thoroughbreds share the same stall — the idiom 'niu ji tong tang' from Zou Yang's prison letter, lamenting when talented and mediocre are treated alike. The Guo clan has already perished; the state lies broken and empty; the lord flees. From Small Taming to Progress, the verse inverts Jin's promise of advancement. Fire above earth should illuminate merit and distinguish the worthy. Instead, the light reveals that such distinctions have already been abolished. When a state cannot tell its thoroughbreds from its oxen, collapse is not impending but complete.
The Six Lines app includes all 4,096 Yilin verses, each with original ink brush artwork and full commentary. Download on the App Store