小畜 → 姤
Hexagram 9: Small Taming → Hexagram 44: Coming to Meet
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 1, 4).
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 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.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
蒼龍隱伏，麟鳳遠匿；寇來同處，未得安息。
The dark dragon hides in concealment; qilin and phoenix retreat far away. Brigands come to share the dwelling; no rest can be found.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Wind above heaven encounters heaven descending to meet the wind below — an unexpected meeting in the dark. The Azure Dragon lies hidden; qilin and phoenix have fled far away. Bandits arrive and occupy the same space; there is no peace or rest. From Small Taming to Coming to Meet, the verse inverts Gou's encounter. When heaven meets wind from below, what rises up should be an opportunity. Yet here what emerges are robbers, while all auspicious creatures — the dragon, the qilin, the phoenix — have withdrawn. These three represent cosmic order in its martial, benevolent, and civilizing aspects. Their absence signals a world where only predators remain. The meeting that was supposed to be generative becomes occupation by hostile forces.
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