小過

Hexagram 55: Abundance → Hexagram 62: Small Exceeding

Abundance
Thunder / Fire
小過
Small Exceeding
Thunder / Mountain
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 1 changing line (line 1).

Line 1

初九 遇其配主。雖旬无咎。往有尚。

meet with
one's own
pèiequal
zhǔand
suīeven if
xúnten days
no
jiùblame
wǎngto go ahead
yǒuis
shàngworth

Nine at the beginning means: When a man meets his destined ruler, They can be together ten days, And it is not a mistake. Going meets with recognition.

Trigram Changes

Upper TrigramThunder Thunder
Lower TrigramFire MountainThe Clinging → Keeping Still

Yilin Verse

罟密網縮,動益蹶急,困不得息。

Nets thick, mesh tightened; every move only tangles more. Trapped and finding no rest.

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

Commentary

Thunder and fire illuminate Abundance, and the verse describes total entrapment. Nets grow dense, meshes tighten; every movement only accelerates the snare. Trapped with no rest, struggling worsens the constraint. The imagery is of a creature — fish or animal — caught in a net where thrashing only draws the mesh closer. The three short phrases build claustrophobic momentum: dense nets, tighter mesh, exhausted struggle. From Abundance to Small Exceeding, thunder above the mountain: a small bird that should not fly too high or too far. The verse embodies Small Exceeding's core warning — when excess is applied in small matters, it creates inescapable constraint. The remedy is to 'exceed in deference, exceed in grief, exceed in thrift' — yield rather than fight the net.

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