Hexagram 30 離 changing to hexagram 2 坤
Changing lines (counted from the bottom): 1, 3, 4, 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 2 坤, line 2
直方大，不習无不利。
The second line, divided, (shows the attribute of) being straight, square, and great. (Its operation), without repeated efforts, will be in every respect advantageous.
Hexagram 2 坤, line 5
黃裳，元吉。
The fifth line, divided, (shows) the yellow lower garment. There will be great good fortune.
The two hexagrams
Hexagram 30 離 — judgment
利貞。亨。畜牝牛，吉。
Lî indicates that, (in regard to what it denotes), it will be advantageous to be firm and correct, and that thus there will be free course and success. Let (its subject) also nourish (a docility like that of) the cow, and there will be good fortune.
Hexagram 2 坤 — judgment
元亨。利牝馬之貞。
Khwăn (represents) what is great and originating, penetrating, advantageous, correct and having the firmness of a mare. When the superior man (here intended) has to make any movement, if he take the initiative, he will go astray; if he follow, he will find his (proper) lord. The advantageousness will be seen in his getting friends in the south-west, and losing friends in the north-east. If he rest in correctness and firmness, there will be good fortune.
The changing lines of hexagram 30
| Line | Chinese | Legge |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 履錯然，敬之无咎。 | The first line, undivided, shows one ready to move with confused steps. But he treads at the same time reverently, and there will be no mistake. |
| 3 | 日昃之離，不鼓缶而歌，則大耋之差，凶。 | The third line, undivided, shows its subject in a position like that of the declining sun. Instead of playing on his instrument of earthenware, and singing to it, he utters the groans of an old man of eighty. There will be evil. |
| 4 | 突如其來如，焚如，死如，棄如。 | The fourth line, undivided, shows the manner of its subject's coming. How abrupt it is, as with fire, with death, to be rejected (by all)! |
| 6 | 王用出征，有嘉折首，獲匪其醜，无咎。 | The topmost line, undivided, shows the king employing its subject in his punitive expeditions. Achieving admirable (merit), he breaks (only) the chiefs (of the rebels). Where his prisoners were not their associates, he does not punish. There will be no error. |
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.