大過

Hexagram 6: Conflict → Hexagram 28: Great Exceeding

Conflict
Heaven / Water
大過
Great Exceeding
Lake / Wind
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

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

Line 3

六三 食舊德。貞。厲終吉。或從王事。无成。

shíincorporating
jiùlong-standing
virtues
zhēnin order to persist
difficult
zhōngbut in the end
auspicious
huòas
cóngpursuing
wángsovereign
shìaffairs
no
chéngachievement

Six in the third place means: To nourish oneself on ancient virtue induces perseverance. Danger. In the end, good fortune comes. If by chance you are in the service of a king, Seek not works.

Line 6

上九 或錫之鞶帶。終朝三褫之。

huòsomebody
awards
zhīone
pánthe leather big
dàiand ribbons
zhōngby the end of
zhāothe morning
sānone will be three times
chǐstripped
zhīof them

Nine at the top means: Even if by chance a leather belt is bestowed on one, By the end of a morning It will have been snatched away three times.

Trigram Changes

Upper TrigramHeaven LakeThe Creative → The Joyous
Lower TrigramWater WindThe Deep → The Gentle

Yilin Verse

啞啞笑言,與善飲食。長樂行觴,千秋起舞,拜受大福。

Laughing joyfully in speech; sharing in good food and drink. Long joy, passing the cup; a thousand autumns of rising to dance, receiving great fortune.

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

Commentary

Heaven and water oppose, but here laughter rings out freely. Companions share good food and drink, passing cups in the Hall of Eternal Joy, rising to dance through a thousand autumns, bowing to receive great blessings. The scene is pure festivity — a grand banquet where conflict is forgotten in shared celebration. From Conflict to Great Exceeding, the lake overwhelms the trees beneath it, a structure pushed beyond its limits. Yet Great Exceeding also means extraordinary action: the ridgepole bends but bears a weight no ordinary beam could hold. The feast described is itself excessive — extravagant, exuberant, almost too much. The verse embraces this: sometimes transcending conflict requires not moderation but magnificent overflow.

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