訟 → 小過
Hexagram 6: Conflict → Hexagram 62: Small Exceeding
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 2, 3, 5, 6).
Line 2
九二 不克訟。歸而逋其邑。人三百戶。无眚。
Nine in the second place means: One cannot engage in conflict; One returns home, gives way. The people of his town, Three hundred households, Remain free of guilt.
Line 3
六三 食舊德。貞。厲終吉。或從王事。无成。
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 5
九五 訟。元吉。
Nine in the fifth place means: To contend before him Brings supreme good fortune.
Line 6
上九 或錫之鞶帶。終朝三褫之。
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
Yilin Verse
青牛白咽，呼我俱田，歷山之下，可以多耕。歲樂時節，民人安寧。
A blue ox with white throat, calling me to the field together. Below Mount Li, much can be plowed. A joyful season; the people are at peace.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Heaven and water oppose, but the scene opens onto agrarian paradise. A green ox with a white throat calls out, inviting all to the fields below Mount Li — the mountain where Emperor Shun once plowed as a commoner before Yao discovered his virtue. Here the land yields abundant harvests, the seasons bring contentment, and the people dwell in peace. From Conflict to Small Exceeding, thunder atop the mountain — the small bird that flies too high will fall, while the one that stays low succeeds. Small Exceeding counsels modesty in action: exceed in reverence, in grief, in frugality, but not in ambition. The verse captures this perfectly: the deepest prosperity is not imperial grandeur but the simple plenty of well-tended fields beneath a historic mountain.
The Six Lines app includes all 4,096 Yilin verses, each with original ink brush artwork and full commentary. Download on the App Store