Hexagram 29 坎 changing to hexagram 38 睽
Changing lines (counted from the bottom): 1, 4, 5, 6.
What to read
Four changing lines: read the two unchanged lines of the resulting hexagram; the lower one is the main one. (Rule set out by Zhu Xi in the Yixue qimeng.)
Hexagram 38 睽, line 2
遇主于巷,无咎。
The second line, undivided, shows its subject happening to meet with his lord in a bye-passage. There will be no error.
Hexagram 38 睽, line 3
見輿曳,其牛𧤊,其人天且劓,无初有終。
In the third line, divided, we see one whose carriage is dragged back, while the oxen in it are pushed back, and he is himself subjected to the shaving of his head and the cutting off of his nose. There is no good beginning, but there will be a good end.
The two hexagrams
Hexagram 29 坎 — judgment
習坎:有孚,維心亨。行有尚。
Khan, here repeated, shows the possession of sincerity, through which the mind is. penetrating. Action (in accordance with this) will be of high value.
Hexagram 38 睽 — judgment
小事吉。
Khwei indicates that, (notwithstanding the condition of things which it denotes), in small matters there will (still) be good success.
The changing lines of hexagram 29
| Line | Chinese | Legge |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 習坎,入于坎窞,凶。 | The first line, divided, shows its subject in the double defile, and (yet) entering a cavern within it. There will be evil. |
| 4 | 尊酒簋,貳用缶。内約自牖,終无咎。 | The fourth line, divided, shows its subject (at a feast), with (simply) a bottle of spirits, and a subsidiary basket of rice, while (the cups and bowls) are (only) of earthenware. He introduces his important lessons (as his ruler's) intelligence admits. There will in the end be no error. |
| 5 | 坎不盈,禔既平,无咎。 | The fifth line, undivided, shows the water of the defile not yet full, (so that it might flow away); but order will (soon) be brought about. There will be no error. |
| 6 | 係用徽纆,寘于叢棘,三歲不得,凶。 | The topmost line, divided, shows its subject bound with cords of three strands or two strands, and placed in the thicket of thorns. But in three years he does not learn the course for him to pursue. There will be evil. |
English: James Legge (1882), public domain. Chinese: Zhou Yi.
Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0); Chinese Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.