小過 → 比
Hexagram 62: Small Exceeding → Hexagram 8: Holding Together
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 5, 6).
Line 1
初六 飛鳥以凶。
Six at the beginning means: The bird meets with misfortune through flying.
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
天女踞床，不成文章。南箕无舌，飯多砂糠。虛象盜名，雌雄折頸。
The celestial Weaving Maid sits at her loom but produces no pattern; the Southern Winnow has no tongue; rice is full of sand and chaff; empty images steal their names; the paired birds break their necks.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder rumbles above the mountain, but the Weaving Maiden sits idle on her bed, producing no cloth. The Southern Winnowing Basket constellation lacks a tongue and cannot sift; rice is full of sand and chaff. Empty signs steal real names, and paired birds break their necks. The verse draws on stellar mythology: the Weaving Maiden (織女) and Winnowing Basket (箕) are constellations that bear functional names but perform no function — cosmic false advertising. From Small Exceeding to Holding Together, the mountain's thunder gives way to water flowing across the earth, seeking genuine union. But here the union is fraudulent: names promise what substance cannot deliver, and those who pair under false pretenses destroy each other. Solidarity built on hollow credentials collapses.
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