節 → 小過

Commentary

Water over lake measures capacity accurately, and this verse demonstrates the folly of mismatched capacities. One can see a thousand li into the distance but cannot perceive what is held in one's own hand. Li Lou's legendary eyesight — famed in the Mencius for discerning the tip of an autumn hair — is of no benefit to the ear. The verse names a specific failure of category: applying the wrong faculty to the wrong task. Acute vision cannot compensate for deafness, just as strength cannot replace wisdom. From Limitation to Small Exceeding, the transformation amplifies this mismatch. Thunder over mountain — the small exceeds, flying too high, straining beyond its capacity. Small Exceeding counsels that going slightly too far is acceptable in mourning, but overreach in ordinary matters is dangerous. Li Lou's eyes, stretched beyond their domain, embody exactly this: a capacity pushed past its proper limit into irrelevance.