大過同人

Hexagram 28: Great Exceeding → Hexagram 13: Fellowship

大過
Great Exceeding
Lake / Wind
同人
Fellowship
Heaven / Fire
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 6).

Line 1

初六 藉用白茅。无咎。

jièfor
yòngusing
báiwhite
máothatch
no
jiùblame

Six at the beginning means: To spread white rushes underneath. No blame.

Line 2

九二 枯楊生稊。老夫得其女妻。无不利。

the withered
yángpoplar
shēngsends out
a new
lǎothe old
gentleman
finds
his own
a maiden
companion
without
doubt
worthwhile

Nine in the second place means: A dry poplar sprouts at the root. An older man takes a young wife. Everything furthers.

Line 6

上六 過涉滅頂。凶。无咎。

guòtoo much of
shèto crossing
miècovering
dǐngone's head
xiōngunfortunate
but no
jiùblame

Six at the top means: One must go through the water. It goes over one's head. Misfortune. No blame.

Trigram Changes

Upper TrigramLake HeavenThe Joyous → The Creative
Lower TrigramWind FireThe Gentle → The Clinging

Yilin Verse

乘龍南遊,夜過糟丘。脫厄無憂。矰絕弩傷,羿不得羹。

Riding a dragon, journeying south; by night passing mounds of lees. Escaping hardship, free of worry. The cord breaks, the crossbow wounds; Yi does not obtain the broth.

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

Commentary

Lake over wind soars into heaven joined with fire — Fellowship. Riding a dragon southward, one passes through the Mound of Dregs by night and escapes all peril. Then the verse shifts: the bowstring snaps, the crossbow wounds its wielder, and Archer Yi does not obtain his broth. Yi, the divine archer who shot down nine suns, was according to tradition murdered by his apprentice and denied his elixir of immortality. The 'broth' he fails to obtain may allude to this betrayal. Riding the dragon past danger evokes celestial journey and escape; Yi's failure warns that even supreme skill cannot prevent treachery from within. From Great Exceeding to Fellowship, the overburdened loner finds safety in companionship — but Yi, who trusted the wrong companion, lost everything.

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