小過 → 謙
Hexagram 62: Small Exceeding → Hexagram 15: Modesty
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 1 changing line (line 4).
Line 4
九四 无咎。弗過遇之。往厲必戒。勿用永貞。
Nine in the fourth place means: No blame. He meets him without passing by. Going brings danger. One must be on guard. Do not act. Be constantly persevering.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
牛耳聾聵，不曉齊味。委以鼎俎，治亂憒憒。
The ox's ears are deaf, unable to discern the flavors of Qi; entrusted with the sacrificial cauldrons, governance falls into confusion.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder rumbles above the mountain, but the ox is deaf and cannot discern fine flavors. Entrusted with the sacrificial tripod and chopping board, it reduces governance to confusion. The verse is a parable of misplaced responsibility: an animal incapable of appreciating culinary art is given charge of the ritual kitchen. The deaf ox (牛耳聾聵) who cannot taste the subtle seasonings of Qi — likely an allusion to the refined cuisine associated with proper statecraft — wrecks everything through sheer incomprehension. From Small Exceeding to Modesty, the mountain's thunder settles into a mountain hidden within the earth. Modesty here is inverted: instead of the capable person who understates their gifts, we see the incapable one given gifts they cannot comprehend, producing chaos through inadequacy rather than arrogance.
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