大過 → 臨
Hexagram 28: Great Exceeding → Hexagram 19: Approach
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 4, 5).
Line 1
初六 藉用白茅。无咎。
Six at the beginning means: To spread white rushes underneath. No blame.
Line 3
九三 棟橈。凶。
Nine in the third place means: The ridgepole sags to the breaking point. Misfortune.
Line 4
九四 棟隆。吉。有它吝。
Nine in the fourth place means: The ridgepole is braced. Good fortune. If there are ulterior motives, it is humiliating.
Line 5
九五 枯楊生華。老婦得其士夫。无咎无譽。
Nine in the fifth place means: A withered poplar puts forth flowers. An older woman takes a husband. No blame. No praise.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
六家作權，公室剖分。陰制其陽，唐叔失明。
Six houses seize authority; the ducal house is carved apart. Yin commands the yang; the heir of Tang loses his sight.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Lake over wind descends into earth above the lake — Approach, where authority draws near. Six houses seize power and carve up the ducal house. Yin overrides yang, and the Tang lord loses his sight. The 'six houses' likely alludes to the six ministerial clans of Jin who usurped ducal authority, eventually splitting the state into three kingdoms (Han, Zhao, Wei). 'Tang lord' refers to the lord of Tang, the original name of Jin state, founded by Tang Shu Yu. The lord's blindness is political: he cannot see the erosion of his own power. From Great Exceeding to Approach, the sagging ridgepole becomes the earth looming over the lake — superior power bearing down. But the verse inverts Approach's promise: instead of benevolent authority drawing near, it is usurpers who approach and dismember the state.
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