小過

Hexagram 62: Small Exceeding → Hexagram 35: Progress

小過
Small Exceeding
Thunder / Mountain
Progress
Fire / Earth
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 3, 6).

Line 3

九三 弗過防之。從或戕之。凶。

it
guògo beyond
fángto defend
zhīoneself
cóngfrom behind
huòsomebody
qiāngassault
zhīthis one
xiōngunfortunate

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。

without
greeting
guòin
zhīthem
fēiflying
niǎobirds
abandon
zhīthis
xiōngill-omened
shìtrue
wèisignalling
zāiof calamity
shěngand harm

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

Upper TrigramThunder FireThe Arousing → The Clinging
Lower TrigramMountain EarthKeeping Still → The Receptive

Yilin Verse

九疑鬱林,沮濕不中。鸞鳳所惡,君子攸去。

The Jiuyi and Yulin ranges, damp and unsuitable; what the phoenix despises; where the noble man departs from.

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

Commentary

Thunder rumbles above the mountain, but in the far south, the Nine Doubts Mountains and the Yulin wilderness are damp and marshy — unfit for habitation. Phoenixes despise such terrain, and the gentleman departs. The Nine Doubts (九疑) are the legendary burial place of Emperor Shun, deep in the subtropical south of modern Hunan — a region associated in Han imagination with miasma, exile, and spiritual danger. Even the noblest birds refuse to settle there. From Small Exceeding to Progress, the mountain's thunder yields to fire rising above the earth — the image of the sun ascending at dawn. The gentleman's departure from the swamp is itself the first act of progress: recognition that advancing means choosing ground worthy of one's gifts, not persisting in hostile terrain.

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