小過

Hexagram 16: Enthusiasm → Hexagram 62: Small Exceeding

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

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 1 changing line (line 3).

Line 3

六三 盱豫悔。遲有悔。

wide-eyed
readiness
huǐregrettable
chíthe slow
yǒuwill have
huǐregrets

Six in the third place means: Enthusiasm that looks upward creates remorse. Hesitation brings remorse.

Trigram Changes

Upper TrigramThunder Thunder
Lower TrigramEarth MountainThe Receptive → Keeping Still

Yilin Verse

李華再實,鴻卵降集;仁德以興,陰國受福。

The plum tree bears fruit a second time; the great swan egg descends to settle. With humane virtue all flourishes -- the hidden land receives its blessing.

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

Commentary

Thunder stirs the earth, and the plum tree fruits a second time — an extraordinary doubling of harvest. Swan goose eggs descend and gather — another prodigious omen. Benevolent virtue rises, and a shadowed state receives blessing. The plum's double fruiting was a classical auspicious portent: nature producing beyond its normal cycle signals cosmic approval of the ruler's virtue. The descending swan eggs likewise suggest heaven showering bounty. From Enthusiasm to Small Exceeding, the transformation matches: thunder above the mountain, a small bird in flight that should descend rather than ascend. The verse's blessings arrive from above — they are not seized but received. Small Exceeding teaches that in certain seasons, exceeding the norm in small, humble ways brings unexpected abundance.

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