小過 → 剝
Hexagram 62: Small Exceeding → Hexagram 23: Splitting Apart
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 6).
Line 1
初六 飛鳥以凶。
Six at the beginning means: The bird meets with misfortune through flying.
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.
Line 6
上六 弗遇過之。飛鳥離之。凶。是謂災眚。
Six at the top means: He passes him by, not meeting him. The flying bird leaves him. Misfortune. This means bad luck and injury.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
登高斬木，頓躓陷險。車傾馬疲，伯叔吁嗟。
Climbing high to fell timber, stumbling and falling into peril; cart overturned, horse exhausted; uncles and brothers cry out in distress.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder rumbles above the mountain as someone climbs high to fell trees, only to stumble and plunge into danger. The cart overturns, the horse is exhausted, and the elder kinsmen can only sigh in dismay. The verse is a cautionary tale of overextension: ascending a height to cut timber — the small person exceeding their reach — leads to a fall that damages everything connected to the enterprise. Cart, horse, and family all suffer from one person's miscalculation. From Small Exceeding to Splitting Apart, the mountain's thunder gives way to mountain resting upon bare earth — erosion from below. The stumble at the summit mirrors the hexagram's image: what rises too far above its foundation is stripped away layer by layer until nothing supports it.
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