小畜 → 解
Hexagram 9: Small Taming → Hexagram 40: Deliverance
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 5 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 4, 5, 6).
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 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.
Line 6
上九 既雨既處。尚德載。婦貞厲。月幾望。君子征凶。
Nine at the top means: The rain comes, there is rest. This is due to the lasting effect of character. Perseverance brings the woman into danger. The moon is nearly full. If the superior man persists, Misfortune comes.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
霜降閉戶，蟄虫隱處；不見日月，與死為伍。
The ground frozen three feet deep; the seeds sleep in darkness. Knowing nothing of spring's message — the blackness is without limit.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Wind above heaven yields to thunder released from water — Deliverance's breaking of tension. The original verse reads: 'At Frost Descent the doors close; hibernating creatures hide away. Sun and moon are unseen; one keeps company with death.' The season of execution has arrived — Frost Descent was when the Han state carried out capital sentences, aligning human punishment with nature's killing energy. All life withdraws into dormancy, sealed away from light. From Small Taming to Deliverance, the verse sits at the nadir before release. Jie's thunder and rain herald the spring thaw that dissolves winter's grip. The hiding creatures will emerge again. Even companionship with death is temporary when deliverance waits on the other side of the frost.
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