小過 → 豫
Hexagram 62: Small Exceeding → Hexagram 16: Enthusiasm
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 1 changing line (line 3).
Line 3
九三 弗過防之。從或戕之。凶。
Nine in the third place means: If one is not extremely careful, Somebody may come up from behind and strike him. Misfortune.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
低頭竊視，有所畏避。行作不利，酒酢魚餒，眾莫貪嗜。
Head bowed, eyes stealing glances, avoiding something feared; actions bring no profit; wine has soured, fish gone rancid; none will touch the feast.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder rumbles above the mountain, but one ducks and peers furtively, avoiding something feared. Action brings no advantage; the wine has soured, the fish has spoiled, and no one wants to taste them. The verse is a portrait of paralysis disguised as caution: lowered heads, stolen glances, movements that dare not commit. The spoiled provisions — vinegared wine and rancid fish — signal that the moment for enjoyment has already passed. From Small Exceeding to Enthusiasm, the mountain's thunder becomes thunder breaking forth from the earth in joyous release. The transformation is bitterly ironic: Enthusiasm demands bold, timely action, but the verse shows someone who missed the window entirely. What should have been a feast has curdled into waste through excessive hesitation.
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