小過 → 豐
Hexagram 62: Small Exceeding → Hexagram 55: Abundance
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 3, 4, 6).
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 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
反鼻岐頭，三寡獨居。
The reversed-nose, forked-head viper; thrice widowed, dwelling alone.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder rumbles above the mountain, but the imagery is unsettling: a turned-up nose and a forked head, and three widows dwelling alone. The verse is cryptic and ominous. The 'reversed nose and forked head' (反鼻岐頭) may describe a serpent — the viper's upturned snout is a standard marker in Chinese natural history — or a deformed omen-creature. The three widows living in solitude suggest a household where all male protectors have perished, leaving only isolated survivors. From Small Exceeding to Abundance, the mountain's thunder becomes thunder and lightning striking together — overwhelming brilliance and power. But the verse inverts Abundance's promise: where there should be plenitude, there is only deformity and bereavement. The thunder and fire illuminate what no one wishes to see.
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