大過

Hexagram 19: Approach → Hexagram 28: Great Exceeding

Approach
Earth / Lake
大過
Great Exceeding
Lake / Wind
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 4, 5).

Line 1

初九 咸臨貞吉。

xiánunited
líntaking charge
zhēnpersistence
promising

Nine at the beginning means: Joint approach. Perseverance brings good fortune.

Line 3

六三 甘臨。无攸利。既憂之。无咎。

gānsweet
líntaking charge
this is no
yōudirection
with merit
when finished
yōuindulge in
zhīthis
no
jiùblame

Six in the third place means: Comfortable approach. Nothing that would further. If one is induced to grieve over it, One becomes free of blame.

Line 4

六四 至臨。无咎。

zhìcomplete
líntaking charge
no
jiùblame

Six in the fourth place means: Complete approach. No blame.

Line 5

六五 知臨。大君之宜。吉。

zhīinformed
líntaking charge
great
jūnnoble
zhī...'s
necessity
promising

Six in the fifth place means: Wise approach. This is right for a great prince. Good fortune.

Trigram Changes

Upper TrigramEarth LakeThe Receptive → The Joyous
Lower TrigramLake WindThe Joyous → The Gentle

Yilin Verse

采唐沫鄉,要期桑中;失信不會,憂思約帶。

Gathering dodder at Mo village, arranging a tryst among the mulberry trees; breaking faith, we did not meet -- longing and worry tighten my sash.

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

Commentary

Earth above the lake enters the lake submerging the trees — Great Exceeding's structural crisis. The verse alludes to the Shijing ode 'Sang Zhong': gathering tang-grass at Mei, a tryst arranged among the mulberries. But the lover breaks the promise and does not appear. Longing and anxiety tighten the belt — the abandoned one wastes away. From Approach to Great Exceeding, what should be a nurturing meeting becomes an insupportable weight. The lake overwhelms the trees of Xun below: the ridgepole sags under emotional excess. The broken tryst is not merely personal disappointment but structural failure — a weight-bearing relationship that was expected to hold the frame together has snapped, and the whole edifice leans dangerously.

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