屯 → 小過
Hexagram 3: Difficulty at the Beginning → Hexagram 62: Small Exceeding
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 4, 5).
Line 1
初九 磐桓。利居貞。利建侯。
Nine at the beginning means: Hesitation and hindrance. It furthers one to remain persevering. It furthers one to appoint helpers.
Line 3
六三 即鹿無虞。惟入于林中。君子幾不如舍。往吝。
Six in the third place means: Whoever hunts deer without the forester Only loses his way in the forest. The superior man understands the signs of the time And prefers to desist. To go on brings humiliation.
Line 4
六四 乘馬班如。求婚媾。往吉。无不利。
Six in the fourth place means: Horse and wagon part. Strive for union. To go brings good fortune. Everything acts to further.
Line 5
九五 屯其膏。小貞吉。大貞凶。
Nine in the fifth place means: Difficulties in blessing. A little perseverance brings good fortune. Great perseverance brings misfortune.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
痴狂妄作，心誑善惑。迷行失路，不知南北。
Raving madly without reason; the mind is deluded and easily confused. Wandering astray, losing the road; not knowing south from north.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Clouds and thunder give way to thunder above mountain: initial difficulty transforms into the minor excess of Small Exceeding. The fool acts madly and recklessly, his mind deceived and easily bewitched. Wandering in confusion, he loses his way entirely, unable to tell south from north. The verse describes cognitive collapse: not merely ignorance but active delusion, where the subject's own judgment betrays him. From Difficulty at the Beginning to Small Exceeding, thunder rumbles atop the mountain but the bird cannot fly high — it must stay close to the ground. The hexagram counsels exceeding in small things: excessive humility, excessive grief, excessive frugality. But the verse shows what happens when excess operates without purpose: the fool exceeds all bounds of reason and stumbles blindly. Small Exceeding warns that even minor overstepping can disorient completely.
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