小過中孚

Hexagram 62: Small Exceeding → Hexagram 61: Inner Truth

小過
Small Exceeding
Mountain / Thunder
中孚
Inner Truth
Wind / Lake
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 2, 5).

Line 2

六二 過其祖。遇其妣。不及其君。遇其臣。无咎。

guòbypassing
one's own
ancestor
to meet with
one's own
grandmother
not
to reach
one's own
jūnleader
but meeting with
that
chénminister
no
jiùblame

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。

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.

Trigram Changes

Upper TrigramMountain WindKeeping Still → The Gentle
Lower TrigramThunder LakeThe Arousing → The Joyous

Yilin Verse

雜目懼怒,不安其居。散渙府藏,无有利得。

Mixed gazes, fearful and angry, unable to rest in their places; treasury and storehouse scattered and dispersed; no profit to be had.

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

Commentary

Thunder rumbles above the mountain, but eyes dart about in fear and anger — no one can settle in their dwelling. The treasury and storehouses are scattered and dispersed, and nothing of value remains. The verse describes institutional hemorrhage: the gaze of those in charge is wild with panic, the population cannot stay put, and the state's accumulated wealth bleeds away in every direction. It is not invasion but internal dissolution — the center cannot hold because those at the center have lost their nerve. From Small Exceeding to Inner Truth, the mountain's thunder transforms into wind above the lake — the image of sincerity that penetrates to the core. The verse shows Inner Truth's absence: where there should be calm conviction at the center, there is only frightened confusion, and without inner composure, external assets evaporate.

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