小過 → 咸
Hexagram 62: Small Exceeding → Hexagram 31: Influence
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 5 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 4, 5, 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 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.
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.
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
倉盈庾億,宜稼黍稷,年歲有息。
Grain piled like mountains — grinding never finishes. Fat chickens and stout geese fill the space between fences. Three jars of wine brewed, still seeming too few — borrowing bowls from the neighbor to send over fresh food.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder rumbles above the mountain, and the original verse speaks of overflowing granaries and billions in store — a season perfect for planting millet and grain, with harvests that yield surplus year after year. The granary metaphor is both literal abundance and social capital: when stores overflow, neighbors share across the fence, and community solidifies. From Small Exceeding to Influence, the mountain's thunder transforms into a lake resting atop the mountain — the image of mutual responsiveness, where what is above draws from below and what is below ascends to meet it. The verse's abundance is not hoarded but exchanged: grain piled high invites sharing, and sharing generates the emotional bonds that Influence represents. Prosperity circulates; it does not merely accumulate.
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