小過

Hexagram 43: Breakthrough → Hexagram 62: Small Exceeding

Breakthrough
Lake / Heaven
小過
Small Exceeding
Mountain / Thunder
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 5 changing lines (lines 2, 3, 4, 5, 6).

Line 2

九二 惕號。莫夜有戎。勿恤。

anxious
hàoand complain
this is not
night
yǒuto have
róngwar
do not
worry

Nine in the second place means: A cry of alarm. Arms at evening and at night. Fear nothing.

Line 3

九三 壯于頄。有凶。君子夬夬。獨行遇雨。若濡有慍。无咎。

zhuàngvigorous
in
qiúcheeks
yǒuassuming
xiōngmisfortune
jūnnoble
young one
guàiis decided
guàiin
all alone
xíngbut
and
rains
ruòas if
getting wet
yǒuwas
yùndispleasure
but no
jiùblame

Nine in the third place means: To be powerful in the cheekbones Brings misfortune. The superior man is firmly resolved. He walks alone and is caught in the rain. He is bespattered, And people murmur against him. No blame.

Line 4

九四 臀无膚。其行次且。牽羊悔亡。聞言不信。

túnrump
without
skin
one's
xíngwalking
is second-rate
qiěfor now
qiānin tow
yángas
huǐregrets
wángwill
wénbut to hear
yánthis
is not
xìnto believe

Nine in the fourth place means: There is no skin on his thighs, And walking comes hard. If a man were to let himself be led like a sheep, Remorse would disappear. But if these words are heard They will not be believed.

Line 5

九五 莧陸夬夬。中行无咎。

xiànwild edible greens
on the dry land
guàiresolved
guàito purge
zhōngto balance
xíngthe action
is not
jiùwrong

Nine in the fifth place means: In dealing with weeds, Firm resolution is necessary. Walking in the middle Remains free of blame.

Line 6

上六 无號。終有凶。

there is
hàocall
zhōngthe end
yǒucould
xiōngunfortunate

Six at the top means: No cry. In the end misfortune comes.

Trigram Changes

Upper TrigramLake MountainThe Joyous → Keeping Still
Lower TrigramHeaven ThunderThe Creative → The Arousing

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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