I Ching · Hexagram 62 of 64
Hexagram 62: Xiao Guo （小过） — Small Exceeding
Mountain below, Thunder above: thunder on the mountain, a flying bird crossing the peak. The hexagram speaks of the small gates of life, easily overlooked yet decisive: pass them by being reverent in conduct, sincere in mourning and frugal in spending, and there is success, favor and perseverance. In speech and manner one must keep low and humble; to rise is to be opposed, to descend is to be in accord.
At a glance
| Hexagram | 62 of 64 |
|---|---|
| Name | Xiao Guo 小过 · Small Exceeding |
| Upper trigram | Zhen （震）· Thunder |
| Lower trigram | Gen （艮）· Mountain |
| Structure | Thunder over Mountain |
| Lines | 6 lines |
The Judgment （卦辞）
Small Exceeding. Success. Favorable to persevere. It is possible in small things, impossible in great things. The flying bird leaves its note: it is not fitting to ascend, it is fitting to descend. Great good fortune.
ExplainedTo pass means to pass a gate. Life is one gate after another: great exceeding is the hard pass that can break a person, while small exceeding is the small gate, easily ignored, yet whoever cannot get through is stopped for a lifetime and never accomplishes anything, and it is not to be made light of. Thunder on the mountain has the look of flight, shown as the flying bird that crosses the peak: an easy crossing, not the crossing of an ocean. Small exceeding, success and favor and perseverance: pass the small gate and life is open, with blessing and with virtue. It is possible in the small but not in the great, for before one has passed, only small things can be done - one who cannot lift ten catties cannot lift a hundred. The flying bird leaves its note with the body above and the sound descending: one's speech must be low and humble, not rich and overbearing, and then great good fortune follows.
Tuan Zhuan — Commentary on the Judgment （彖传）
Small Exceeding: the small exceed and so succeed. To exceed with favor and perseverance is to walk with the time. The yielding attain the middle; therefore good fortune in small things. The firm loses its place and does not attain the middle; therefore it is impossible in great things. There is the image of the flying bird: the flying bird leaves its note; it is not fitting to ascend, it is fitting to descend; great good fortune - to ascend is to be opposed, to descend is to be in accord.
ExplainedThe small exceed and so succeed: pass the small gates and life flows easily, and the knots in a life come of small gates not passed. To exceed with favor and perseverance is to walk with the time - to pass the small disaster easily as the bird crosses the mountain, and then to settle life with the seasons, moving when it is time to move and stopping when it is time to stop, so that the way is bright; whoever has blessing and virtue knows of himself what the hour requires. The yielding attain the middle: the central places of the two trigrams are yielding, so one is still adjusting and has not yet become the upright noble one, with much of the petty mind not yet ordered, and so may do small things but not great - first finish the most important small thing. The firm loses its place and does not attain the middle: the fifth place is lost, the heart is not yet mastered, and one is still ruled by habit and desire, and must be set right before great things are possible. To ascend is to be opposed and to descend is to be in accord: speak with arrogance and everyone stands against you, speak humbly and everything goes with you.
Xiang Zhuan — Image Commentary （大象）
Thunder on the mountain: Small Exceeding. The gentleman exceeds in reverence in his conduct, in sorrow in mourning, and in frugality in his spending.
ExplainedThe gentleman must pass three gates, standing like a tripod: in conduct, exceed in reverence, so that respect within shows without and others feel honored; in mourning, exceed in sorrow, grieving without injury, remembering without breaking down; in spending, exceed in frugality. One who can be reverent and can grieve without harm has strong self-restraint and often remains frugal though rich, which is a person of blessing. Stand firm on these three gates and one enters success, favor and perseverance; and passing them, one enters the next hexagram, After Completion.
The Six Lines （六爻）
The lines are read from the bottom upward. Each carries its own text, a Small Image commentary, and a plain-English reading.
Line 1 · YinLine 1
The flying bird brings misfortune.
Small ImageThe flying bird brings misfortune: there is no way to help it.
ExplainedWhoever is arrogant, or grieves over the dead beyond measure, or is cold, or squanders the moment there is money and spends before earning it, yet dreams of soaring at a bound, has no foundation and breaks its wings in mid-air. As the old parable says, the man who wanted a three-story house without the first two built a castle in the air. The first line is one who has kept none of the three gates - reverence, sorrow, frugality - and only wishes to succeed; nothing can help him.
Line 2 · YinLine 2
He passes his ancestor, he meets his ancestress. He does not reach his prince, he meets his minister. No blame.
Small ImageHe does not reach his prince: a minister must not pass beyond.
ExplainedThe first gate is the ancestor - all the sages and holy ones, who keep the score above - and the ancestress is the mother, whom one must serve and obey, for a mother's giving is the greatest and her claims the most tangled. The second gate is not to reach the prince but to meet the minister: a son stops at filial devotion and a minister at reverence. Learn to be a good minister first, and promotion and the favor of the great follow. With the foundation laid, no blame.
Line 3 · YangLine 3
If he does not pass, guard against it. If he follows, perhaps he is harmed. Misfortune.
Small ImageIf he follows and is harmed: how great the misfortune.
ExplainedIf the basic virtues of reverence, sorrow and frugality have not been established, one has neither the blessing of the ancestors nor promotion by the great, and must guard against harm at any moment. The nearest and dearest may be the one who wounds you, as Caesar was struck down by a friend. To take the small gates for trifles and neglect them is to live with the disaster already inside the house; there is no guarding against it, and no use in guarding only against the consequences while leaving the habits unchanged.
Line 4 · YangLine 4
No blame. He does not pass, he meets it. Going forward is perilous; he must be on guard. Do not use him for long perseverance.
Small ImageHe does not pass, he meets it: his place is not right. Going forward is perilous, he must be on guard: in the end it cannot last.
ExplainedThe way to no blame is to meet the three virtues of which we have spoken - to meet the minister and the ancestress, to be filial and loyal, and so to exceed in reverence, in sorrow and in frugality - which is only to recover one's own nature. Knowing that to press forward is perilous and unmeasured, with not even the first lessons learned, one must warn oneself not to act, not to rush on for a small advantage, and so remain always upright. All achievement, like all salvation, lies in patience: those who can hold back come through, while those who rise for a moment grieve forever.
Line 5 · YinLine 5
Dense clouds, no rain, from our western fields. The duke shoots and takes that which is in the cave.
Small ImageDense clouds, no rain: he has risen too high.
ExplainedAfter meeting the three virtues and guarding against haste with a hundred forbearances, a person becomes a duke, a lord, a leader, a noble himself. The dense clouds over the west are all the signs gathered but the rain not yet falling, everything ready but for one breath. The duke shoots and takes what is in the cave: to win the hearts and support of the people one must go lower than the lowest, serving beggars, wanderers, the sick and the weak, as the bodhisattva did and as the master washed his disciples' feet. He has risen too high: if the clouds are too high the rain cannot fall, and one whose blessing is complete but who stands above all cannot accomplish the great work.
Line 6 · YinLine 6
He does not meet it, he passes beyond it. The flying bird leaves it. Misfortune. This is called calamity and blindness.
Small ImageHe does not meet it, he passes beyond it: he has soared too high.
ExplainedHe meets none of the three gates and still tries to fly past them: the bird flies too high, leaves the height it can control and cannot hold the current, and so comes misfortune. The calamity comes from blindness - not knowing the times, not knowing oneself, trusting in oneself without self-knowledge and dashing blindly, the clumsy bird flying at random. He has soared too high: the voice that only strains upward cracks, and one who has no power insists on singing and is cast out. One must never fly blindly without knowing one's own limit.
Key takeaway
The small gates of life are easily overlooked yet decisive: exceed in reverence, in sorrow and in frugality, and keep low in speech, for to rise is to be opposed and to descend is to be in accord.
Frequently asked questions
What does Hexagram 62 (Xiao Guo) mean in the I Ching?
Mountain below, Thunder above: thunder on the mountain, a flying bird crossing the peak. The hexagram speaks of the small gates of life, easily overlooked yet decisive: pass them by being reverent in conduct, sincere in mourning and frugal in spending, and there is success, favor and perseverance. In speech and manner one must keep low and humble; to rise is to be opposed, to descend is to be in accord.
What is the judgment of Hexagram 62?
Small Exceeding. Success. Favorable to persevere. It is possible in small things, impossible in great things. The flying bird leaves its note: it is not fitting to ascend, it is fitting to descend. Great good fortune. To pass means to pass a gate. Life is one gate after another: great exceeding is the hard pass that can break a person, while small exceeding is the small gate, easily ignored, yet whoever cannot get through is stopped for a lifetime and never accomplishes anything, and it is not to be made light of. Thunder on the…
What do the six lines of Hexagram 62 say?
Line 1: The flying bird brings misfortune. Line 2: He passes his ancestor, he meets his ancestress. He does not reach his prince, he meets his minister. No blame. Line 3: If he does not pass, guard against it. If he follows, perhaps he is harmed. Misfortune. Line 4: No blame. He does not pass, he meets it. Going forward is perilous; he must be on guard. Do not use him for long perseverance. Line 5: Dense clouds, no rain, from our western fields. The duke shoots and takes that which is in the cave. Line 6: He does not meet it, he passes beyond it. The flying bird leaves it. Misfortune. This is called calamity and blindness.
What is the main lesson of Hexagram 62 (Small Exceeding)?
The small gates of life are easily overlooked yet decisive: exceed in reverence, in sorrow and in frugality, and keep low in speech, for to rise is to be opposed and to descend is to be in accord.
Want the reading to be about you?
Enter your birth details to see your own BaZi (Four Pillars of Destiny) chart, your five-element balance and the key months ahead. Everything is calculated in your browser and nothing is stored.