小過 → 蠱
Hexagram 62: Small Exceeding → Hexagram 18: Work on the Decayed
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3).
Line 1
初六 飛鳥以凶。
Six at the beginning means: The bird meets with misfortune through flying.
Line 2
六二 過其祖。遇其妣。不及其君。遇其臣。无咎。
Six in the second place means: She passes by her ancestor And meets her ancestress. He does not reach his prince And meets the official. No blame.
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
戴盆望天，不見星辰。顧小失大，遁逃墻外。
Carrying a basin on one's head to gaze at heaven, seeing neither stars nor constellations; watching the small, losing the great; fleeing beyond the wall.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder rumbles above the mountain, but one wears a basin on one's head and tries to gaze at the sky — naturally, the stars are invisible. Fixated on the small, one loses sight of the great, and ultimately flees over the wall in panic. The proverb 戴盆望天 (wearing a basin while hoping to see heaven) is a classic image of self-imposed blindness: the very tool meant to carry water blocks the view upward. The escape over the wall completes the farce — having failed to see what was overhead, one now abandons what was underfoot. From Small Exceeding to Work on the Decayed, the mountain's thunder shifts to wind trapped beneath the mountain. The decay is self-inflicted: corruption begins when one's own instrument obstructs one's vision.
The Six Lines app includes all 4,096 Yilin verses, each with original ink brush artwork and full commentary. Download on the App Store