夬 → 小過
Hexagram 43: Breakthrough → Hexagram 62: Small Exceeding
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 5).
Line 1
初九 壯于前趾。往不勝為咎。
Nine at the beginning means: Mighty in the forward-striding toes. When one goes and is not equal to the task, One makes a mistake.
Line 2
九二 惕號。莫夜有戎。勿恤。
Nine in the second place means: A cry of alarm. Arms at evening and at night. Fear nothing.
Line 5
九五 莧陸夬夬。中行无咎。
Nine in the fifth place means: In dealing with weeds, Firm resolution is necessary. Walking in the middle Remains free of blame.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
十里望烟，散渙四分。形體滅亡，可入深淵，終不見君。
Gazing at smoke from ten miles away; scattered and dispersed in four directions. Form and body extinguished; one may enter the deep abyss, never again to see the lord.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Lake risen above heaven fades into the thunder atop the mountain, exceeding in small things. Gazing ten li into the distance, one sees only smoke scattering in four directions. The body dissolves and perishes; one may descend into the abyss and never see the sovereign again. Smoke dispersing at the horizon is an image of irreversible dissolution — whatever was solid has been consumed by fire and carried off by wind, leaving no trace. From Breakthrough to Small Exceeding, the grand decisive gesture shrinks into the cautious excess of the small bird that should not fly too high. The verse warns of overreach that ends in total disappearance: the form destroyed, the connection to authority severed, the person vanished into depths from which there is no return.
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