小過 → 小畜
Hexagram 62: Small Exceeding → Hexagram 9: Small Taming
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 5 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 4, 5, 6).
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.
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
大椎破轂，長舌亂國。墻茨之言，三世不安。
The great axle-pin smashes the wheel-hub; a long tongue throws the nation into chaos; the words of the thorn-hedge bring three generations without peace.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder rumbles above the mountain, and a massive linchpin shatters the wheel hub — brute force misapplied to a delicate mechanism. A long, wagging tongue throws the state into turmoil. The gossip behind the thorn-hedge wall (牆茨) unsettles three generations. The phrase 牆茨之言 alludes to the Odes poem 'Qiang Ci' (牆有茨), which describes scandalous words overheard through palace walls — secrets that should remain hidden but leak out, poisoning court politics for generations. From Small Exceeding to Small Taming, thunder above the mountain shifts to wind moving gently over heaven. But the wind here carries poison: gossip is a gentle force that accumulates devastating effect. What small restraint should contain — a whispered rumor, a careless word — instead proliferates, and the taming fails.
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