King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Hexagram 56 旅 changing to hexagram 31 咸

lǚ
→
xián

Changing lines (counted from the bottom): 5, 6.

What to read

Two changing lines: read both line texts of the original hexagram; the upper one is the main one. (Rule set out by Zhu Xi in the Yixue qimeng.)

Hexagram 56 旅, line 6

鳥焚其巢,旅人先笑後號咷。喪牛于易,凶。

The sixth line, undivided, suggests the idea of a bird burning its nest. The stranger, (thus represented), first laughs and then cries out. He has lost his ox(-like docility) too readily and easily. There will be evil.

Hexagram 56 旅, line 5

射雉一矢亡,終以譽命。

The fifth line, divided, shows its subject shooting a pheasant. He will lose his arrow, but in the end he will obtain praise and a (high) charge.

The two hexagrams

Hexagram 56 旅 — judgment

小亨,旅貞吉。

Lii intimates that (in the condition which it denotes) there may be some little attainment and progress. If the stranger or traveller be firm and correct as he ought to be, there will be good fortune.

Hexagram 31 咸 — judgment

亨。利貞。取女吉。

Hsien indicates that, (on the fulfilment of the conditions implied in it), there will be free course and success. Its advantageousness will depend on the being firm and correct, (as) in marrying a young lady. There will be good fortune.

The changing lines of hexagram 56

LineChineseLegge
5射雉一矢亡,終以譽命。The fifth line, divided, shows its subject shooting a pheasant. He will lose his arrow, but in the end he will obtain praise and a (high) charge.
6鳥焚其巢,旅人先笑後號咷。喪牛于易,凶。The sixth line, undivided, suggests the idea of a bird burning its nest. The stranger, (thus represented), first laughs and then cries out. He has lost his ox(-like docility) too readily and easily. 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.