第49卦

Revolution

上卦

Duì

LakeJoyous

五行Metal方位Southwest家庭Youngest Daughter性质joyful, reflective, collecting

下卦

FireClinging

五行Fire方位East家庭Second Daughter性质illuminating, dependent, radiant

经典文本

彖辞

巳日乃孚。元亨。利貞。悔亡。

象辞

澤中有火,革。君子以治曆明時。

爻辞

第初爻

初九 鞏用黃牛之革。

第二爻

六二 巳日乃革之。征吉无咎。

第三爻

九三 征凶貞厲。革言三就。有孚。

第四爻

九四 悔亡有孚。改命吉。

第五爻

九五 大人虎變。未占有孚。

第上爻

上六 君子豹變。小人革面。征凶。居貞吉。

The Death of Marat

The Death of Marat

Jacques-Louis David, 1793

Revolution

David paints a martyr's death as political icon. In his 1793 Neoclassical work, journalist Jean-Paul Marat slumps in his medicinal bath, assassinated knife on the floor, letter still clutched in his hand. Charlotte Corday stabbed him three days into the Reign of Terror, transforming personal murder into revolutionary symbol. The composition strips away chaos to reveal stark geometry—white cloth, green bath wrap, wooden crate as writing desk. David memorializes the moment when violence ruptures the old social order.

阅读完整论述 ↓

This is Gé (革), the Chinese hexagram of Revolution. The character originally meant animal hide tanned and processed—skin transformed through fire and treatment into something new. Ancient diviners saw this configuration when Lake (Dui) sits above Fire (Li): water and flame cannot coexist peacefully, yet their conflict drives transformation. Marat's bath literalizes this image—water meant to soothe his diseased skin becomes the site where fire (political fury) extinguishes his life, even as his death ignites revolutionary fervor. David painted this Neoclassical work commemorating journalist and radical deputy Jean-Paul Marat, assassinated in his medicinal bath during the French Revolution's Reign of Terror. The painting depicts violent political transformation, showing Marat moments after death with the assassin's knife on the floor, connecting to Revolution's theme of sudden, decisive change in the social order. The Judgment text speaks to David's painting directly: "Revolution. On your own day you are believed. Supreme success, furthering through perseverance." Marat died July 13, 1793. Within weeks, David had transformed him into revolutionary saint. The painting appeared at the National Convention that autumn, establishing the visual vocabulary for martyrdom that would sustain the Republic. Zhou Dynasty diviners consulted this hexagram during dynastic transitions, when heaven's mandate shifted from exhausted rulers to vigorous successors. The text promises that revolution succeeds not through chaos but through proper timing—when the old form has truly decayed beyond repair. The Image Text declares: "Fire in the lake: the image of Revolution. Thus the superior man regulates the calendar and clarifies the seasons." After toppling the monarchy, French revolutionaries abolished the Gregorian calendar, replacing saints' days with rational decimal time. David's painting participates in this temporal revolution—Marat becomes not merely dead but eternally dying, frozen in the revolutionary present. In the I-Ching sequence, Revolution follows The Well: after drawing on timeless sources, radical transformation becomes possible. The old skin must be shed completely.

焦氏易林

焦延寿《易林》——第49卦本卦之辞。西汉时期以四言诗阐释卦变,为最早的系统性易学占辞集。

Yilin artwork for Hexagram 49
馬服長股,宜行善市。蒙祐諧偶,獲金五倍。

澤中有火,革之象也。

阅读完整注释 ↓

澤中有火,革之象也。馬服長股,宜行善市。蒙祐諧偶,獲金五倍。革之自變——火湖重疊,革故鼎新循環不已。長腿之馬天生適於行路經商,體格健壯、步伐穩健,善市者因時而動、隨機應變。命運眷顧,得遇良偶,獲利五倍。從革至革,有些天性本就為變革而生——永遠的行商者、天生的適應者,恰因萬物不停而獲利。革卦遇革卦,非動盪之災,乃善變者之福。

English commentary

Fire within the lake returns to fire within the lake — Revolution unchanged, the pattern repeating itself. Long-legged horses well suited to their harness, good for travel and commerce. Blessed with fortune and matched with a partner, one gains gold fivefold. When Revolution meets itself, the dynamic is pure transformation without destination: constant molting, constant renewal. The horse with long legs is built for the road; the merchant who matches goods to markets multiplies wealth. There is no resistance, no friction — the pattern flows. From Revolution to Revolution, the message is that some natures are made for change itself: the perpetual trader, the born adapter, profits precisely because nothing stays still.