Hexagram 50 · Line 3
The Cauldron — 三九
Ding · San Jiu
The Line
The handle of the caldron is changed. One is hindered in one's walk. The fat of the pheasant is not eaten. Once the rain falls, the remorse exhausts itself: in the end good fortune comes.
Interpretation
The handle is the place where the caldron is lifted up. When the handle is changed, the caldron cannot be lifted up and used, and the fine foods that are in it, like the fat of pheasants, regrettably serve no one as nourishment. Thereby someone is depicted who in a time of high culture finds themself at a place where no one regards or recognizes them. This is for their working a severe hindrance. All their good qualities and spiritual gifts are in this way uselessly consumed. But one must only see to it that one really has inwardly spiritual possession. Then surely the time will finally come when the hindrances resolve and all goes well. The resolution of tension is here as elsewhere symbolized by the falling of rain.