大過 → 屯
Hexagram 28: Great Exceeding → Hexagram 3: Difficulty at the Beginning
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 4).
Line 1
初六 藉用白茅。无咎。
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。
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.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
涉塗履危，不利有為。安坐垂裳，乃無災殃。門戶自開，君憂不昌。
Treading mud, walking in peril; action brings no advantage. Sit at ease with robes hanging; thus avoid calamity. The gate opens of itself; the lord worries it will not prosper.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Lake over wind sinks into the birth-struggle of cloud and thunder — Difficulty at the Beginning. Treading muddy roads and walking through danger, nothing favors action. Sitting calmly with robes hanging loose brings no calamity. Yet the gate opens on its own, and the lord worries that things will not flourish. The verse counsels inaction amid chaos: when the ground is treacherous and the way unclear, stillness preserves what recklessness would destroy. The self-opening gate is an ominous sign — what should require effort arrives unbidden, suggesting forces beyond one's control. From Great Exceeding to Difficulty at the Beginning, the sagging ridgepole meets the storm of new creation. In such times, the wise ruler does not force the issue but waits for the thunder to clarify which path leads forward.
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