需 → 小過
Hexagram 5: Waiting → Hexagram 62: Small Exceeding
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 2, 3, 5, 6).
Line 2
九二 需于沙。小有言。終吉。
Nine in the second place means: Waiting on the sand. There is some gossip. The end brings good fortune.
Line 3
九三 需于泥。致寇至。
Nine in the third place means: Waiting in the mud Brings about the arrival of the enemy.
Line 5
九五 需于酒食。貞吉。
Nine in the fifth place means: Waiting at meat and drink. Perseverance brings good fortune.
Line 6
上六 入于穴。有不速之客三人來。敬之終吉。
Six at the top means: One falls into the pit. Three uninvited guests arrive. Honor them, and in the end there will be good fortune.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
焱風忽起，車馳揭揭。棄名追亡，失其和節，憂心惙惙。
A sudden storm erupts; the carriage races, rattling and swaying. Abandoning reputation to chase what is lost; harmony and rhythm are broken. The heart aches with anxious dread.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Clouds above heaven descend to thunder atop the mountain — Small Exceeding's bird that should fly low, not high. A violent windstorm erupts; chariots race wildly, wheels rattling. One abandons reputation to pursue the fleeing, losing harmony and proper rhythm, the heart fluttering in distress. Everything about this scene is out of measure: the wind too sudden, the pursuit too reckless, the cost too great. The verse enacts the very excess that Small Exceeding warns against — going beyond what is appropriate in small matters until everything unravels. From Waiting to Small Exceeding, patience snaps into overreaction: the small bird overshoots its mark, and what began as minor urgency becomes a full-scale loss of composure and purpose.
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