噬嗑 → 小過
Hexagram 21: Biting Through → Hexagram 62: Small Exceeding
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 1 changing line (line 4).
Line 4
九四 噬乾胏。得金矢。利艱貞。吉。
Nine in the fourth place means: Bites on dried gristly meat. Receives metal arrows. It furthers one to be mindful of difficulties And to be persevering. Good fortune.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
陳蔡之危，從者飢罷；明德上通，憂不為凶。
The peril of Chen and Cai; the followers starved and spent. Bright virtue reaches heaven above -- worry does not turn to misfortune.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Fire and thunder enforce the law, and here the sage endures its harshest application. The hardship at Chen and Cai — Confucius besieged between two states, his followers starving for seven days, too exhausted to stand. Yet brilliant virtue penetrates upward to heaven, and despite the suffering, worry does not become true misfortune. The story is one of the most famous in Confucian tradition: the Master's equanimity amid privation, his refusal to compromise his principles even when food runs out. From Biting Through to Small Exceeding, thunder rumbles above the mountain as the small bird flies too high. The verse embodies Small Exceeding's teaching: in extremity, exceed in humility and caution — the sage's moral light reaches heaven precisely because he does not overreach.
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