小過大過

Hexagram 62: Small Exceeding → Hexagram 28: Great Exceeding

小過
Small Exceeding
Thunder / Mountain
大過
Great Exceeding
Lake / Wind
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 2, 5).

Line 2

六二 過其祖。遇其妣。不及其君。遇其臣。无咎。

guòbypassing
one's own
ancestor
to meet with
one's own
grandmother
not
to reach
one's own
jūnleader
but meeting with
that
chénminister
no
jiùblame

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 5

六五 密雲不雨。自我西郊。公弋取彼在穴。

thick
yúnclouds
but
rain
coming from
our
西western
jiāohorizon
gōngeven a duke
bowhunts with tethered/harpoon arrows
preferring
that
zàiin
xuécave

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

Upper TrigramThunder LakeThe Arousing → The Joyous
Lower TrigramMountain WindKeeping Still → The Gentle

Yilin Verse

和璧隋珠,為火所燒。冥昧失明,奪精无光,棄於道傍。

The jade disc of He and pearl of Sui, consumed by fire; darkened and blind, losing their light; their brilliance gone, discarded by the roadside.

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

Commentary

Thunder rumbles above the mountain, but the He Shi jade disc and the Marquis of Sui's pearl — two of antiquity's most legendary treasures — are consumed by fire. Brilliance is extinguished, essence is stolen, and the priceless objects are discarded by the roadside. The He Shi Bi (和氏璧) was the jade disc for which Bian He lost both feet, and the Sui pearl (隋珠) was said to have been given by a grateful serpent. Together they represent irreplaceable value, and their burning is an act of cosmic waste. From Small Exceeding to Great Exceeding, thunder above the mountain transforms into the lake submerging the trees — excess compounded. Small excess becomes catastrophic: what began as a minor overstepping ends in the destruction of things that can never be remade.

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