小過

Hexagram 45: Gathering Together → Hexagram 62: Small Exceeding

Gathering Together
Lake / Earth
小過
Small Exceeding
Mountain / Thunder
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 4, 5, 6).

Line 1

初六 有孚不終。乃亂乃萃。若號一握為笑。勿恤。往无咎。

yǒubeing
true
is not
zhōngall
nǎiif first
luànconfused
nǎiand then
cuìgather
ruòseeming
hàoto call
and one
helping handclasp
wéibecomes
xiàolaughter
do not
worry
wǎnggo
without
jiùguilt

Six at the beginning means: If you are sincere, but not to the end, There will sometimes be confusion, sometimes gathering together. If you call out, Then after one grasp of the hand you can laugh again. Regret not. Going is without blame.

Line 4

九四 大吉无咎。

much
promise
no
jiùblame

Nine in the fourth place means: Great good fortune. No blame.

Line 5

九五 萃有位。无咎匪孚。元永貞。悔亡。

cuìassemble
yǒuwith
wèiplace
no
jiùblameworthy
fěibut to be without
assurance
yuánmeans an extremely
yǒngprolonged
zhēnpersistence
huǐbut
wángwill pass

Nine in the fifth place means: If in gathering together one has position, This brings no blame. If there are some who are not yet sincerely in the work, Sublime and enduring perseverance is needed. Then remorse disappears.

Line 6

上六 齎咨涕洟。无咎。

offer up
counsel
but
and sniveling
but
jiùblame

Six at the top means: Lamenting and sighing, floods of tears. No blame.

Trigram Changes

Upper TrigramLake MountainThe Joyous → Keeping Still
Lower TrigramEarth ThunderThe Receptive → The Arousing

Yilin Verse

故室舊廬,消散无餘。不如新創,可以樂居。

The old house, the former dwelling; dissolved and scattered, nothing remains. Better to build anew; a fit place for joyful habitation.

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

Commentary

Lake upon earth transforms into thunder above the mountain, the modest Small Exceeding. The old house and former dwelling have dissolved and nothing remains. Better to build anew, creating a place fit for happy habitation. The verse is pragmatic rather than nostalgic: the ancestral home is beyond repair, and clinging to it only delays the necessary fresh start. The counsel is to exceed the small, to go slightly beyond the conventional attachment to old structures and create something that actually works. From Gathering to Small Exceeding, the transformation acknowledges that sometimes what has been gathered must be released. The thunder above the mountain calls for action that slightly exceeds the norm: not revolutionary overthrow but practical rebuilding, letting go of what is irrecoverable in favor of something livable.

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