大過

Hexagram 4: Youthful Folly → Hexagram 28: Great Exceeding

Youthful Folly
Mountain / Water
大過
Great Exceeding
Lake / Wind
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 3, 4, 5, 6).

Line 3

六三 勿用取女。見金夫。不有躬。无攸利。

it is not at all
yònguseful
to pair
maiden
jiànwho sees
jīnof
gentleman
and does not
yǒuown
gōngher
this is no
yōudirection
with merit

Six in the third place means: Take not a maiden who, when she sees a man of bronze, Loses possession of herself. Nothing furthers.

Line 4

六四 困蒙。吝。

kùnsurrounded
méngimmaturity
lìnembarrassment

Six in the fourth place means: Entangled folly bring humiliation.

Line 5

六五 童蒙。吉。

tóngyoung
ménginexperienced
promising

Six in the fifth place means: Childlike folly brings good fortune.

Line 6

上九 擊蒙。不利為寇。利禦寇。

striking
ménginexperience
not
worthwhile
wéito be
kòuassailant
worthwhile
to defend against
kòuassailant

Nine at the top means: In punishing folly It does not further one To commit transgressions. The only thing that furthers Is to prevent transgressions.

Trigram Changes

Upper TrigramMountain LakeKeeping Still → The Joyous
Lower TrigramWater WindThe Deep → The Gentle

Yilin Verse

膏澤肥壤,人民孔樂。宜利俱止,長安富貴。

Rich soil, fertile fields; the people are greatly contented. Fit to dwell in profit and rest; long at peace, rich and noble.

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

Commentary

A spring beneath the mountain irrigates rich, well-oiled soil, and the people rejoice greatly. All beneficial ventures come to rest here; lasting peace and enduring wealth prevail. 'Chang'an' — 'Eternal Peace' — may allude to the Han capital, symbol of imperial prosperity at its zenith. The land itself is generous: fertile, moist, and yielding abundance without exhaustion. From Youthful Folly to Great Exceeding, the transformation seems paradoxical. The lake submerges the trees, the ridgepole bends — yet here everything thrives. The resolution lies in timing: the verse captures the peak moment before excess tips into collapse. The naif enjoys the feast at its fullest, not yet aware that abundance carried too far becomes the very weight that breaks the beam.

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