小過 → 巽
Hexagram 62: Small Exceeding → Hexagram 57: The Gentle Wind
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 2, 4, 5, 6).
Line 2
六二 過其祖。遇其妣。不及其君。遇其臣。无咎。
Six in the second place means: She passes by her ancestor And meets her ancestress. He does not reach his prince And meets the official. No blame.
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 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.
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
飛不遠去，還歸故處，興事多悔。
Flight does not go far; returning to the old place; undertakings bring much regret.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder rumbles above the mountain, but the bird does not fly far — it circles back to its original perch. Undertaking ventures only brings regret. The verse is a warning against restless initiative: the bird that cannot commit to its departure wastes energy returning to where it started, and every project launched from this position generates remorse rather than results. The circling flight pattern embodies futile ambition — motion without progress, departure without arrival. From Small Exceeding to the Gentle, the mountain's thunder subsides into doubled wind — penetrating, persistent, but without thunderous force. The Gentle counsels patient infiltration rather than dramatic departure. The bird's error was trying to thunder when it should have been breeze: small, steady influence succeeds where grand exits fail.
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