小過 → 革
Hexagram 62: Small Exceeding → Hexagram 49: Revolution
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 1, 5).
Line 1
初六 飛鳥以凶。
Six at the beginning means: The bird meets with misfortune through flying.
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
陽曜旱疾，傷病稼穡，農人无食。
The sun blazes with drought sickness; crops and plantings lie wounded; the farming people have no food.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder rumbles above the mountain, but the sun blazes mercilessly and drought ravages the land. Crops sicken and wither, and farmers have nothing to eat. The verse is stark agricultural catastrophe: excessive yang heat (陽曜) scorches what the earth produces, leaving those who till the soil with empty hands. No human villain here — the oppressor is heaven itself, a sun that will not relent. From Small Exceeding to Revolution, the mountain's thunder transforms into fire within the lake — opposing elements trapped together, the catalyst for radical change. Revolution arises from this kind of unbearable tension: when the existing order (a sun that should warm, not destroy) becomes intolerable, the conditions for upheaval are complete. The farmers' hunger is revolution's kindling.
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