小過

Hexagram 4: Youthful Folly → Hexagram 62: Small Exceeding

Youthful Folly
Mountain / Water
小過
Small Exceeding
Thunder / Mountain
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 2, 3, 4, 6).

Line 2

九二 包蒙吉。納婦吉。子克家。

bāoincluding
méngthe inexperienced
promising
accepting
woman
promising
young one
can manage
jiāfamily

Nine in the second place means: To bear with fools in kindliness brings good fortune. To know how to take women Brings good fortune. The son is capable of taking charge of the household.

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 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 ThunderKeeping Still → The Arousing
Lower TrigramWater MountainThe Deep → Keeping Still

Yilin Verse

雉兔之東,狼虎所從。貪叨凶惡,不可止息。

Where pheasant and rabbit head east, wolf and tiger follow. Greedy, violent, and cruel; they cannot be stopped.

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

Commentary

A spring beneath the mountain runs into predator country. Pheasants and hares head east, but wolves and tigers follow in their tracks. Greed and cruelty rage without restraint, impossible to stop. The prey animals move first; the predators trail behind, turning the same path into a killing ground. The verse is pure menace — no rescue, no moral, only the relentless logic of pursuit. From Youthful Folly to Small Exceeding, thunder atop the mountain should counsel excessive caution — going too far in humility, in mourning, in frugality. Yet here excess takes the form of unchecked predation. The naif discovers that smallness offers no protection when the pursuer exceeds all bounds. In a world where wolves know no limit, even small exceeding becomes existential.

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