小過 → 觀
Hexagram 62: Small Exceeding → Hexagram 20: Contemplation
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 1, 5).
Line 1
初六 飛鳥以凶。
Six at the beginning means: The bird meets with misfortune through flying.
Line 5
六五 密雲不雨。自我西郊。公弋取彼在穴。
Six in the fifth place means: Dense clouds, No rain from our western territory. The prince shoots and hits him who is in the cave.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
攘臂反肘，怒不可二。佷戾腹心，无以為市。
Baring arms and thrusting elbows, rage that cannot be shared; a perverse and stubborn heart leaves no one to trade with.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder rumbles above the mountain, and an arm swings back with elbow reversed in violent gesture — rage that cannot be duplicated or shared. A ruthless, perverse heart festers within, and no marketplace can function under such conditions. The verse captures the anatomy of tyrannical anger: the reversed elbow (反肘) suggests force turned inward or misdirected, while the destroyed marketplace signals the collapse of civil exchange. When the ruler's fury becomes ungovernable, commerce — the baseline of social cooperation — ceases. From Small Exceeding to Contemplation, the mountain's thunder transforms into wind moving across the earth, surveying all from above. The shift is from blind rage to panoramic vision: Contemplation offers the perspective that fury forecloses, seeing the whole where anger saw only the provocation.
The Six Lines app includes all 4,096 Yilin verses, each with original ink brush artwork and full commentary. Download on the App Store