小過 → 遯
Hexagram 62: Small Exceeding → Hexagram 33: Retreat
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 4, 5).
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.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
切切之患，凶重憂荐，為虎所吞。
Pressing, urgent peril; misfortune weighs heavy, calamity upon calamity; devoured by the tiger.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder rumbles above the mountain, but pressing danger mounts relentlessly — misfortune compounds, sorrows pile upon each other, until one is devoured by the tiger. The verse is pure dread compressed into three phrases: anxiety escalating, calamity doubling, the predator closing in. No named figure, no historical allusion — just the existential terror of being hunted with no escape. The tiger represents danger that does not negotiate. From Small Exceeding to Retreat, the mountain's thunder gives way to heaven rising above the mountain — the image of strategic withdrawal. The verse shows what happens when retreat comes too late: the one who should have withdrawn while the path was clear is now swallowed whole. Retreat is medicine; delay makes it poison.
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