小過
“Small Exceeding” — King Wen #62
Small overshooting. The bird flies low: go slightly beyond in small matters, not in great ones.
The Judgment 卦辞
亨，利貞；可小事，不可大事；飛鳥遺之音，不宜上，宜下，大吉。
Xiao Guo indicates that (in the circumstances which it implies) there will be progress and attainment. But it will be advantageous to be firm and correct. (What the name denotes) may be done in small affairs, but not in great affairs. (It is like) the notes that come down from a bird on the wing - to descend is better than to ascend. There will (in this way) be great good fortune.— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
The Six Lines 爻辞
飛鳥以凶。
The first SIX, divided, suggests (the idea of) a bird flying, (and ascending) till the issue is evil.
過其祖，遇其妣；不及其君，遇其臣，無咎。
The second SIX, divided, shows its subject passing by his grandfather, and meeting with his grandmother; not attempting anything against his ruler, but meeting him as his minister. There will be no error.
弗過防之，從或戕之，凶。
The third NINE, undivided, shows its subject taking no extraordinary precautions against danger; and some in consequence finding opportunity to assail and injure him. There will be evil.
無咎，弗過遇之；往厲必戒，勿用永貞。
The fourth NINE, undivided, shows its subject falling into no error, but meeting (the exigency of his situation), without exceeding (in his natural. course). If he go forward, there will be peril, and he must be cautious. There is no occasion to be using firmness perpetually.
密雲不雨，自我西郊；公弋取彼在穴。
The fifth SIX, divided, (suggests the idea) of dense clouds, but no rain, coming from our borders in the west. It also (shows) the prince shooting his arrow, and taking the bird in a cave.
弗遇過之；飛鳥離之，凶，是謂災眚。
The sixth SIX, divided, shows. its subject not meeting (the exigency of his situation), and exceeding (his proper course). (It suggests the idea of) a bird flying far aloft. There will be evil. The case is what is called one of calamity and self-produced injury.
Reading the Picture
Hexagram 62 places mountain (艮) beneath thunder (震) —stillness holding its ground below, movement breaking out of stillness above. This is why the tradition reads it as “Small Exceeding”:small overshooting. The bird flies low: go slightly beyond in small matters, not in great ones Whenever you cast this figure, the classical reading points back to that turning of forces.
Questions About Hexagram 62
What does 小過 (xiǎo guò) mean?
Hexagram 62 of the I Ching is named 小過 (xiǎo guò), usually rendered "Small Exceeding" in English editions. Its figure pairs mountain (艮) below with thunder (震) above.
Which trigrams form hexagram 62?
震 (Thunder) sits above and 艮 (Mountain) sits below — the classical picture is stillness holding its ground beneath movement breaking out of stillness.
How is hexagram 62 related to the other hexagrams?
Changing every line of hexagram 62 gives hexagram 61 — 中孚 (Center Returning). Turned upside down, the figure is itself — one of the four symmetrical hexagrams. Its nuclear hexagram — the inner pattern of lines 2 through 5 — is hexagram 28 — 大過 (Great Exceeding).
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1 Legge, James. The Yi King, Sacred Books of the East vol. XVI (1899), public domain. Classical Chinese from the received Zhouyi text. · For reflection and entertainment — not financial, medical, or life advice.