家人 → 小過
Hexagram 37: The Family → Hexagram 62: Small Exceeding
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 3, 5).
Line 3
九三 家人嗃嗃。悔厲吉。婦子嘻嘻。終吝。
Nine in the third place means: When tempers flare up in the family, Too great severity brings remorse. Good fortune nonetheless. When woman and child dally and laugh It leads in the end to humiliation.
Line 5
九五 王假有家。勿恤吉。
Nine in the fifth place means: As a king he approaches his family. Fear not. Good fortune.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
老馬無駒，病雞不雛。三雌獨宿，利在山北。
The old mare has no foal; the ailing hen raises no chicks. Three hens roost alone; profit lies in the mountain's north.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Wind from fire nourishes the family line, but here the generative chain breaks down entirely. An old horse sires no foals; a sick hen hatches no chicks. Three hens roost alone, and advantage lies only in the mountain's northern shadow. The imagery of barren animals is relentless: every creature that should reproduce fails to do so. The household's biological continuity is severed. The 'northern mountain' — the shaded, yin side — suggests that whatever small benefit remains lies in withdrawal and concealment rather than growth. From The Family to Small Exceeding, thunder above the mountain delivers more force than the situation warrants. Small Exceeding counsels modesty in a time of limited capacity; the family with no offspring must accept its diminished state and find what little shelter the mountain's shadow provides.
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