大過

Hexagram 28: Great Exceeding → Hexagram 2: The Receptive

大過
Great Exceeding
Lake / Wind
The Receptive
Earth / Earth
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 2, 3, 4, 5).

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 3

九三 棟橈。凶。

dòngthe ridgepole
náois deformed
xiōngominous

Nine in the third place means: The ridgepole sags to the breaking point. Misfortune.

Line 4

九四 棟隆。吉。有它吝。

dòngthe ridgepole
lóngholds
promising
yǒuif it
tuōany
lìnthen inadequacy

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。

the withered
yángpoplar
shēngsends out
huáflowers
lǎothe old
woman
finds
her own
shìa young gentleman
as husband
no
jiùto blame
no
to praise

Nine in the fifth place means: A withered poplar puts forth flowers. An older woman takes a husband. No blame. No praise.

Trigram Changes

Upper TrigramLake EarthThe Joyous → The Receptive
Lower TrigramWind EarthThe Gentle → The Receptive

Yilin Verse

鬼泣哭社,悲商無後。甲子昧爽,殷人絕祀。

Ghosts weep and wail at the shrine; sorrowful Shang has no heir. At dawn on the jiazi day; the Yin people’s sacrifices are cut off.

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

Commentary

Lake over wind bows toward earth's pure receptivity — but what arrives is annihilation. Ghosts weep at the ancestral shrine, mourning that the Shang lineage has no heir. At dawn on a jiazi day, the Yin people lose their sacrifices forever. The verse alludes to the fall of the Shang dynasty at the Battle of Muye: King Wu attacked at dawn, and the Shang altars were extinguished. 'Ghosts weep at the shrine' inverts the proper order — ancestors should receive offerings, not shed tears. The jiazi day is historically associated with the Muye battle. From Great Exceeding to the Receptive, overburdened structure collapses into formless earth. The Shang ridgepole, rotted from within by tyranny, buckles and the entire edifice falls into the ground, its sacrificial line severed.

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