小過

Hexagram 62: Small Exceeding → Hexagram 22: Grace

小過
Small Exceeding
Mountain / Thunder
Grace
Mountain / Fire
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 1 changing line (line 3).

Line 3

九三 弗過防之。從或戕之。凶。

it
guògo beyond
fángto defend
zhīoneself
cóngfrom behind
huòsomebody
qiāngassault
zhīthis one
xiōngunfortunate

Nine in the third place means: If one is not extremely careful, Somebody may come up from behind and strike him. Misfortune.

Trigram Changes

Upper TrigramMountain Mountain
Lower TrigramThunder FireThe Arousing → The Clinging

Yilin Verse

忠信輔成,王政不傾。公劉肇舉,文武綏之。

Loyalty and trust assist completion; the king's rule does not falter; Duke Liu began the work; Wen and Wu brought peace.

— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE

Commentary

Thunder rumbles above the mountain, and loyalty and trustworthiness support the throne — the king's governance does not topple. Duke Liu (公劉) initiated the Zhou people's rise, and Kings Wen and Wu brought it to completion. The verse traces the Zhou dynasty's foundational arc: from Duke Liu's establishment of the agricultural settlement at Bin, through generations of accumulated virtue, to the martial and cultural perfection of Wen and Wu. Loyalty and trust (忠信) are the structural pillars that keep the edifice standing. From Small Exceeding to Grace, the mountain's thunder transforms into fire glowing beneath the mountain — beauty that illuminates without consuming. The Zhou achievement is presented as adornment of substance: power refined into culture, raw virtue polished into lasting civilization.

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