小過 → 復
Hexagram 62: Small Exceeding → Hexagram 24: Return
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 4).
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 4
九四 无咎。弗過遇之。往厲必戒。勿用永貞。
Nine in the fourth place means: No blame. He meets him without passing by. Going brings danger. One must be on guard. Do not act. Be constantly persevering.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
桑方隕落，黃敗其葉。失勢傾側，如无所立。
The mulberry tree's leaves fall away, yellowed and ruined; power lost, tilting sideways, as if with nothing to stand upon.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder rumbles above the mountain, but the mulberry tree is shedding its leaves — they fall yellow and spent. Having lost its vitality, the tree tilts sideways as though it has nowhere to stand. The mulberry (桑) was the economic backbone of ancient Chinese households, its leaves feeding silkworms that produced the family's wealth. Its decline is not mere seasonal change but structural collapse: when the mulberry fails, the entire domestic economy follows. From Small Exceeding to Return, the mountain's thunder descends into thunder hidden within the earth — the first stirring of renewal after total decline. The verse shows the nadir that precedes return: everything has fallen, the trunk leans without support, yet the thunder buried in earth promises that the root system still lives.
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