頤 → 小過
Hexagram 27: Nourishment → Hexagram 62: Small Exceeding
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 4, 6).
Line 1
初九 舍爾靈龜。觀我朶頤。凶。
Nine at the beginning means: You let your magic tortoise go, And look at me with the corners of your mouth drooping. Misfortune.
Line 3
六三 拂頤。貞凶。十年勿用。无攸利。
Six in the third place means: Turning away from nourishment. Perseverance brings misfortune. Do not act thus for ten years. Nothing serves to further.
Line 4
六四 顛頤。吉。虎視眈眈。其欲逐逐。无咎。
Six in the fourth place means: Turning to the summit For provision of nourishment Brings good fortune. Spying about with sharp eyes Like a tiger with insatiable craving. No blame.
Line 6
上九 由頤。厲吉。利涉大川。
Nine at the top means: The source of nourishment. Awareness of danger brings good fortune. It furthers one to cross the great water.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
彫葉被霜，獨蔽不傷。駕入喜門，與福為婚。
Carved leaves coated in frost; alone sheltered, unharmed. Driving through the gate of joy; wedding with blessing itself.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Mountain over thunder gives way to thunder over mountain — Small Exceeding, the bird that must descend rather than ascend. Withered leaves are struck by frost, yet one alone is sheltered and unharmed. The carriage enters the gate of joy, and fortune becomes one's bride. The frost-bitten leaves represent general devastation — the season's killing breath — yet a single leaf survives, protected by some unseen grace. From Nourishment to Small Exceeding, the transformation is modest and precise: the small bird does not fly too high but stays low and safe. The surviving leaf embodies this principle — exceeding just enough to endure, not so much as to expose itself. Through small, careful excess in humility, one enters the gate of happiness unscathed while others fall.
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