小畜 → 巽
Hexagram 9: Small Taming → Hexagram 57: The Gentle Wind
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 1 changing line (line 1).
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.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
燕雀衘茅，以生孚乳；兄弟六人，姣好孝悌；各得其願，和悅相樂。
Swallows and sparrows carry straw to bear and nurse their young. Six brothers, all handsome and filial. Each fulfills his wish; in harmony and joy together.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Wind above heaven settles into doubled wind — the Gentle's repeated, penetrating influence. Sparrows and swallows carry straw to build their nests, breeding and nursing their young. Six brothers live in beauty and filial harmony; each achieves his heart's desire, and all rejoice together. From Small Taming to the Gentle, wind meets itself and doubles its permeating force. Xun's image — following wind — represents commands issued repeatedly until they take effect. The verse embodies this as domestic order: birds build homes, siblings cooperate, and fulfillment is shared without competition. Six brothers echoes the trigram family's generative harmony. When gentle influence is consistently applied, it produces not obedience but genuine contentment — each member finding their own place within the larger pattern.
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