師 → 小過
Hexagram 7: The Army → Hexagram 62: Small Exceeding
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 6).
Line 1
初六 師出以律。否臧凶。
Six at the beginning means: An army must set forth in proper order. If the order is not good, misfortune threatens.
Line 2
九二 在師中吉。无咎。王三錫命。
Nine in the second place means: In the midst of the army. Good fortune. No blame. The king bestows a triple decoration.
Line 6
上六 大君有命。開國承家。小人勿用。
Six at the top means: The great prince issues commands, Founds states, vests families with fiefs. Inferior people should not be employed.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
鄰不我顧，而望玉女。身多癩疾，誰肯媚者。
Neighbors pay me no regard, yet I dream of the jade maiden. My body covered with sores; who would find me pleasing?
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Water hidden within the earth cannot compel attraction by force, and one's neighbors refuse even to glance over, while one gazes longingly at a beautiful woman far beyond reach. The body is covered in sores and lesions — who would consent to love such a person? The verse is brutally honest about the limits of desire when one has nothing to offer: afflicted and unappealing, longing for beauty only sharpens the pain of inadequacy. From The Army to Small Exceeding, thunder atop the mountain oversteps its proper bounds. The verse embodies this excess perfectly: desire that exceeds one's actual capacity or station creates only shame. Small exceeding counsels modesty in grief and frugality in action — here, neither is practiced.
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