Duration

浚恆，貞凶，无攸利。

Digging too deeply for duration. Constancy brings misfortune; nothing is beneficial.

Line 1 digs for permanence before a course has begun. Changing the broken base to firm turns lower Wind into Heaven and yields Hexagram 34, Thunder above Heaven.

悔亡。

Regret vanishes.

Line 2 is spare: regret vanishes at the center of lower Wind. When the firm line yields, Mountain stands below Thunder and the result is Hexagram 62.

不恆其德，或承之羞，貞吝。

One who does not sustain character may receive disgrace. Persistence brings regret.

Failure to sustain character appears at Line 3, the edge of inner Wind. The line's change makes Water below Thunder and gives Hexagram 40.

田无禽。

No game in the field.

The hunt finds no game at Line 4, where outer Thunder begins. Changing that firm line to yielding makes Earth above Wind and produces Hexagram 46.

恆其德，貞，婦人吉，夫子凶。

Sustaining one's character through constancy: favorable for a woman, misfortune for a husband.

Line 5 assigns opposite judgments to wife and husband within a received social order; it is historical text, not a modern prescription. Making the line firm turns Thunder into Lake and yields Hexagram 28 above the unchanged inner Wind.

振恆，凶。

Constant agitation. Misfortune.

Agitation occupies Line 6, where continuity has reached its limit. A firm top turns Thunder into Fire and produces Hexagram 50, The Cauldron above Wind.