小過

Hexagram 62: Small Exceeding → Hexagram 53: Development

小過
Small Exceeding
Thunder / Mountain
Development
Wind / Mountain
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 4, 5, 6).

Line 4

九四 无咎。弗過遇之。往厲必戒。勿用永貞。

avoid
jiùharm
it
guògo beyond
to greet
zhīanother
wǎnggoing
difficult
and require
jièprecaution
do not
yòngpractice
yǒnglasting
zhēnpersistence

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。

thick
yúnclouds
but
rain
coming from
our
西western
jiāohorizon
gōngeven a duke
bowhunts with tethered/harpoon arrows
preferring
that
zàiin
xuécave

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。

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 WindThe Arousing → The Gentle
Lower TrigramMountain Mountain

Yilin Verse

中田有廬,彊塲有瓜。獻進皇祖,曾孫壽考。

A hut amid the fields; melons on the boundary ridge; offerings presented to the royal ancestors; may the descendants live long.

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

Commentary

Thunder rumbles above the mountain, and in the middle of the field stands a cottage, while melons grow along the border ridges. These are offered up to the imperial ancestor, and the great-grandson lives to a ripe old age. The verse draws from the Odes poem 'Mian' (綿) and related harvest songs: the field cottage (廬) is the farmer's seasonal shelter, the border melons mark well-tended boundaries, and the ancestral offering completes the agricultural-ritual cycle. Everything here is proper, proportionate, and blessed by continuity across generations. From Small Exceeding to Development, the mountain's thunder becomes trees growing slowly upon the mountain — gradual, organic progress. The great-grandson's longevity is Development's fruit: patient cultivation across generations yields not dramatic triumph but enduring prosperity.

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