小過

Hexagram 15: Modesty → Hexagram 62: Small Exceeding

Modesty
Earth / Mountain
小過
Small Exceeding
Thunder / Mountain
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 1 changing line (line 4).

Line 4

六四 无不利撝謙。

without
doubt
worthwhile
huīwith
qiānof authenticity

Six in the fourth place means: Nothing that would not further modesty In movement.

Trigram Changes

Upper TrigramEarth ThunderThe Receptive → The Arousing
Lower TrigramMountain Mountain

Yilin Verse

梅李冬實,國多賊盜;擾亂並作,王不能制。

Plum and apricot bear fruit in winter; the state swarms with thieves and bandits. Turmoil erupts on every side; the king cannot control it.

— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE

Commentary

Earth holds the mountain, but plum and pear trees fruit in winter — a portentous inversion of natural order. The state is overrun with bandits; disorder erupts on all sides, and the king cannot control it. Trees bearing fruit out of season is a traditional omen of political chaos: nature's calendar disrupted mirrors governance gone awry. From Modesty to Small Exceeding, thunder rumbles atop the mountain, a small creature flying too high. Small Exceeding counsels humility in action — 'err on the side of deference, grief, and frugality.' Yet the verse shows a kingdom where even these modest correctives have failed: the king's authority is insufficient, and the bandits exceed all bounds. When seasonal order collapses, small excesses compound into uncontrollable disorder.

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