小過 → 艮
Hexagram 62: Small Exceeding → Hexagram 52: Keeping Still Mountain
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 4, 6).
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 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
過時不歸，雌雄苦悲。徘徊外國，與母分離。
Border geese fly south — the formation is broken. A lone shadow drops into the reeds. Searching everywhere for companions, no call answers — cold moonlight on the river, the traveler has not returned.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder rumbles above the mountain, but the original verse tells of one who fails to return on time — male and female mourn bitterly, wandering in foreign lands, separated from their mother. A lone goose falls behind its formation, its shadow sinking into the reeds along a moonlit river, searching for companions who no longer answer. The verse embodies the pain of delayed homecoming stretched into permanent exile. From Small Exceeding to Keeping Still, thunder above the mountain settles into doubled mountain — absolute stillness, cessation of all movement. The bird that was flying has stopped; the one who was traveling has become fixed in foreign soil. Keeping Still here is not tranquil meditation but the terrible stillness of someone who has simply stopped trying to return.
The Six Lines app includes all 4,096 Yilin verses, each with original ink brush artwork and full commentary. Download on the App Store