大過 → 觀
Hexagram 28: Great Exceeding → Hexagram 20: Contemplation
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 2, 3, 4, 6).
Line 2
九二 枯楊生稊。老夫得其女妻。无不利。
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。
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 6
上六 過涉滅頂。凶。无咎。
Six at the top means: One must go through the water. It goes over one's head. Misfortune. No blame.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
去室離家，來奔大都。火息復明，姬伯以昌。商人失功。
Leaving chamber and home behind; he comes fleeing to the great capital. The fire dies then burns bright again; Lord Ji thereby prospers. The Shang people lose their work.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Lake over wind rises into wind above earth — Contemplation, the sovereign's inspection of the realm. Leaving home and chamber to seek the great capital; fire dies then reignites. Lord Ji prospers, while the Shang people lose their mandate. The verse traces the Zhou ascent: King Wen's clan (姬伯, Lord Ji) departs its rural domain, and though the flame of fortune gutters, it flares anew in the great capital. The Shang, meanwhile, forfeit heaven's blessing. 'Fire dying then brightening' captures the moment when the Zhou cause seemed extinguished but revived to build a new civilization. From Great Exceeding to Contemplation, the collapsing structure gives way to the wind that surveys the earth from above — the new dynasty's panoramic vision replacing the old order's blindness.
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