小過

Hexagram 30: The Clinging Fire → Hexagram 62: Small Exceeding

The Clinging Fire
Fire / Fire
小過
Small Exceeding
Mountain / Thunder
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 3, 4).

Line 3

九三 日昃之離。不鼓缶而歌。則大耋之嗟。凶。

the sun
declines
zhīin
radiance
not
drumming
fǒuclay
érand
singing
leads to
much
diéold age
zhī's
jiēlament
xiōngunfortunate

Nine in the third place means: In the light of the setting sun, Men either beat the pot and sing Or loudly bewail the approach of old age. Misfortune.

Line 4

九四 突如其來如。焚如。死如。棄如。

sudden
so
one's
láiarrival
seems
féna ablaze
so
mortal
so
soon forgotten
so

Nine in the fourth place means: Its coming is sudden; It flames up, dies down, is thrown away.

Trigram Changes

Upper TrigramFire MountainThe Clinging → Keeping Still
Lower TrigramFire ThunderThe Clinging → The Arousing

Yilin Verse

黃裳建元,文德在身,祿祐洋溢,封為齊君,賈市無門,股肱多根。

Yellow lower garment, founding the era; cultured virtue upon his person. Blessings and fortune overflow; enfeoffed as lord of Qi. The marketplace has no gates; limbs and supports are many and firm.

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

Commentary

Doubled fire meets thunder above the mountain: brilliance adorns itself with humble excess. The yellow lower garment establishes the epoch; refined virtue resides in one's person. Blessings and favor overflow, and one is enfeoffed as Lord of Qi. Yet the merchant's market has no gate, and the limbs have many roots entangling them. 'Huang chang' (yellow lower garment) alludes to the I-Ching's Kun hexagram, line six-five: 'A yellow lower garment — supremely auspicious,' symbolizing humble virtue in a position of influence. The enfeoffment of Qi recalls Taigong's reward after the Zhou conquest. From The Clinging to Small Exceeding, fire's brilliance accepts the thunder's counsel to exceed in humility rather than grandeur. True excess lies in being excessively reverent, excessively frugal — the small virtues that sustain power longer than grand gestures.

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