大過

Hexagram 28: Great Exceeding → Hexagram 55: Abundance

大過
Great Exceeding
Lake / Wind
Abundance
Thunder / Fire
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 5).

Line 1

初六 藉用白茅。无咎。

jièfor
yòngusing
báiwhite
máothatch
no
jiùblame

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。

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 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 ThunderThe Joyous → The Arousing
Lower TrigramWind FireThe Gentle → The Clinging

Yilin Verse

歲暮花落,君衰於德。勞寵損墜,陰奪其室。

Year’s end, blossoms fall; the lord declines in virtue. Favor toils and tumbles; yin seizes his chamber.

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

Commentary

Lake over wind blazes into thunder above fire — Abundance, the fullness of light and power at their zenith. As the year wanes and flowers fall, the lord declines in virtue. Favor, once lavished, slips and drops away; yin usurps the chamber. The verse is a study in autumnal loss: the year past its prime, blossoms falling, the ruler's moral authority fading. 'Yin seizes the chamber' suggests a concubine or scheming subordinate displacing the legitimate order — the classic trope of inner-court subversion. Abundance's image is thunder and lightning together — maximum visibility. Yet the verse shows Abundance's shadow: when the zenith passes, decline is swift. From Great Exceeding to Abundance, excess peaks in a blaze of power, but the very brilliance of the moment accelerates the fall that follows.

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