大過 → 蹇
Hexagram 28: Great Exceeding → Hexagram 39: Obstruction
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 2, 4).
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 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
春桃始華,季女宜家。受福多年,男為邦君。
Spring peach begins to bloom; the youngest daughter makes a good home. Receiving blessings for many years; her son becomes lord of the realm.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Lake over wind meets water above mountain — Obstruction, the image of danger looming before the traveler. Yet the verse defies its target hexagram with images of flourishing: spring peach trees begin to blossom, the youngest daughter makes a fine match. Blessings last many years, and her son becomes lord of a domain. The verse reads as a marriage blessing — the peach blossom echoing the Shijing's 'Tao Yao' ode that celebrates a bride entering her husband's household. From Great Exceeding to Obstruction, the collapsing structure encounters the mountain's barrier. But the verse suggests that what seems obstructed is actually being shaped: the mountain's obstacle channels spring water into fertility, and the young woman's marriage, far from blocked, flourishes precisely because difficulty taught patience and the peach blossomed at its proper time.
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