小過 → 渙
Hexagram 62: Small Exceeding → Hexagram 59: Dispersion
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 5).
Line 1
初六 飛鳥以凶。
Six at the beginning means: The bird meets with misfortune through flying.
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 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
求玉獲石，非心所欲，祝願不得。
Seeking jade, obtaining stone; not what the heart desired; prayers and wishes unfulfilled.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder rumbles above the mountain, but one seeks jade and finds only stone — not what the heart desired. Prayers go unanswered, wishes remain unfulfilled. The verse is a compact parable of disappointment: the gulf between expectation and reality, between what one prays for and what one receives. Jade and stone look similar enough to invite confusion, but the difference in value is absolute. The seeker's error lies not in the searching but in mistaking the result for the goal. From Small Exceeding to Dispersion, the mountain's thunder transforms into wind moving over water — scattering, dissolving boundaries. Dispersion here acts on the seeker's illusions: what was tightly held (the prayer, the hope) disperses like mist, and one is left holding the stone that was always there.
The Six Lines app includes all 4,096 Yilin verses, each with original ink brush artwork and full commentary. Download on the App Store