小過 → 訟
Hexagram 62: Small Exceeding → Hexagram 6: Conflict
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 4, 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 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.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
手足易處,頭尾顛倒。公為雌嫗,亂其蚕織。
Shoes worn backwards, left and right reversed. Reading the book from the end to the beginning. The general wields a pestle while the soldier holds the seal — the whole hall in uproar, no one's word is master.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder rumbles above the mountain, but all order is inverted. The original verse reads: hands and feet swap places, head and tail are reversed; the lord becomes a crone spinning silk, tangling the weaving. Shoes are worn backward, books read from end to beginning, the general wields a pestle while the soldier holds the seal of command. The imagery is systematic inversion — every hierarchy upended, every role misassigned. Authority disintegrates not through rebellion but through absurd misplacement: those with power lack competence, those with skill lack authority. From Small Exceeding to Conflict, the mountain's excess thunder becomes heaven and water moving in opposite directions. Disorder here is not chaotic violence but structural contradiction — each element pulling away from its proper alignment.
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