I Ching Hexagram 62 - Small Powers
Description and interpretations of I Ching hexagram 62 "Small Powers".
小過- Xiǎo Guò
Lôi Sơn Tiểu Quá
Small Powers
Upper (Outer) Trigram: ☳ Zhen, Thunder
Lower (Inner) Trigram: ☶ Gen, Mountain
Other Titles: Preponderance of the Small, Small Excesses, Excess in Small Things, The Small get by, Slight Excess, Small Exceeding, Small Surpassing, Excess of the Small, Small gains, Conscientiousness, Smallness in Excess, Exceeding the Mean, Proliferation of Details
English Translations & Interpretations
The Judgement
Wilhelm/Baynes: Preponderance of the Small. Success. Perseverance furthers. Small things may be done; great things should not be done. The flying bird brings the message: It is not well to strive upward, it is well to remain below. Great good fortune.
Legge: Small Powers indicates that there will be progress and attainment in small affairs, but not in great affairs. It will be advantageous to be firm and correct. It is like the song of a flying bird: It is better to descend than to ascend. In this way there will be good fortune.
Blofeld: The Small Get By -- success! Persistence in a righteous course brings reward. Small things can be accomplished now, but not great ones. When birds fly high, their singing is out of tune. The humble, but not the mighty, are favored now with great good fortune. (To aim high now would be to put ourselves out of accord with the times.)
Liu: Slight Excess. Success. Continuing is of benefit. Undertaking small things, not great things. The song of the flying bird. It is not good to go up; it is good to stay below. Great good fortune. (Slight Excess signifies the slight excess or small mistake that can prevent the achievement of great things.)
Shaughnessy: Small Surpassing : Receipt; beneficial to determine; possible for little service, but not possible for great service. The sound left by the flying bird is not proper for ascent but is proper for descent; greatly auspicious.
Cleary (1): Predominance of the small is developmental, beneficial if correct. It is suitable for a small affair but not for a great one. The call left by a flying bird should not rise but descend. This is very auspicious.
Cleary (2): Small excess turns out all right. It is beneficial to be correct. It is all right for small matters, not for great matters. A flying bird leaves its cry; it should not ascend but descend – then there will be great good fortune.
Wu: Excess of the Small indicates pervasiveness and the advantage of being persevering. One may succeed in doing small business, but not big one. Like the lingering sound of a bird flying by, it is not suitable to go upward, but suitable to go downward. Great fortune.
The Image
Wilhelm/Baynes: Thunder on the mountain: the image of Preponderance of the Small. Thus in his conduct the superior man gives preponderance to reverence. In bereavement he gives preponderance to grief. In his expenditures he gives preponderance to thrift.
Legge: The image of thunder above a hill forms Small Powers. The superior man, in accordance with this, in his conduct exceeds in humility, in mourning exceeds in sorrow, and in his expenditure exceeds in economy.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes thunder over the mountains. The Superior Man now acts with too much reverence, experiences too much sorrow from bereavement and is overly thrifty in satisfying his needs.
Liu: Thunder over the mountain symbolizes Slight Excess. The superior man's conduct is overly humble; In mourning he laments exceedingly, and he is stingy in his spending.
Cleary (1): There is thunder over a mountain, exessively small. Thus superior people are excessively deferential in conduct, excessively sad in mourning, excessively frugal in consumption.
Cleary (2): Thunder over a mountain – small excess. Genteel people are exceedingly deferential in conduct, exceedingly sad in mourning, and exceedingly abstemious in consumption.
Wu: Thunder rolls over the mountain; this is Excess of the Small. Thus the jun zi conducts himself with a little excess in respect to others, a little excess in sorrow at mourning, and a little excess in frugality in expenditure.
Line 1
初六．飛鳥以凶．
Wilhelm/Baynes: The bird meets with misfortune through flying. (A bird ought to remain in the nest until it is fledged. If it tries to fly before this, it invites misfortune.)
Legge: The first line, magnetic, suggests the idea of a bird flying, and ascending until the issue is evil.
Blofeld: A bird in flight brings misfortune.
Liu: A bird encounters misfortune when it soars.
Shaughnessy: The flying bird brings inauspiciousness.
Cleary: A bird that flies thereby brings misfortune.
Wu: The flying bird gets its misfortune.
Line 2
六二: 過其祖, 遇其妣, 不及其君. 遇其臣, 无咎．
Wilhelm/Baynes: She passes by her ancestor and meets her ancestress. He does not reach his prince and meets the official. No blame.
Legge: The second line, magnetic, shows its subject passing by her grandfather, and meeting with her grandmother; not attempting anything against her ruler, but meeting her as her minister. There will be no error.
Blofeld: Passing by the spirit tablets of his ancestors, he encountered the ghost of (or else the tablet of) his late mother. He did not get as far as the Prince but encountered one of the ministers -- no error!
Liu: He passes over his deceased grandfather and meets his deceased grandmother. He does not reach the king but meets an official. No blame.
Shaughnessy: Surpassing his grandfather, meeting his grandmother: Not reaching his lord, meeting his servant; there is no trouble.
Cleary (1): Passing the grandfather, you meet the mother; not reaching the lord, you meet the retainer. No fault.
Cleary (2): Going past the grandfather, etc. ... you meet the administrator, etc.
Wu: He passes by his grandfather and meets with his grandmother. He does not reach the ruler, but meets with the minister. No error.
Line 3
九三．弗過防之, 從或戕之, 凶．
Wilhelm/Baynes: If one is not extremely careful, somebody may come up from behind and strike him. Misfortune.
Legge: The third line, dynamic, shows its subject taking no extraordinary precautions against danger, and some in consequence finding opportunity to assail and injure him. There will be evil.
Blofeld: Unless he takes appropriate precautions, one of his subordinates may slay him -- misfortune!
Liu: If he does not protect himself carefully, someone will stab him in the back. Misfortune.
Shaughnessy: Not surpassing him but repelling him, following which someone injures him; inauspicious.
Cleary (1): If you do not overcome and forestall it, indulgence will cause harm, which would be unfortunate.
Cleary (2): One does not take precautions in excess, so pursuers attack one. This is unfortunate.
Wu: Ignoring to secure a little excess of protection, he may be fatally wounded. Foreboding.
Line 4
九四: 无咎, 弗過遇之, 往厲, 必戒; 勿用永貞．
Wilhelm/Baynes: No blame. He meets him without passing by. Going brings danger. One must be on guard. Do not act. Be constantly persevering. (Hardness of character is tempered by yielding position, so that no mistakes are made.)
Legge: The fourth line, dynamic, shows its subject falling into no error, but meeting the exigency of his situation without exceeding in his natural course. If he goes forward, there will be peril, and he must be cautious. There is no occasion to be using firmness perpetually.
Blofeld: No error! Instead of passing him by, he accosts him. Advancing now entails dangers which have to be guarded against. This is not a time for action, but for unwavering determination.
Liu: He meets things without excessive reactions. No blame. He will meet danger if he advances. There must be caution. Do not continue.
Shaughnessy: There is no trouble. Not surpassing him, but meeting him; to go is dangerous, there necessarily being a revolt. Do not herewith determine permanently.
Cleary (1): No fault. Do not dally with it too much; it is dangerous to go on. Caution is necessary. Don’t persist forever.
Cleary (2): No fault, meeting here without excess. To go is dangerous; it is necessary to be cautious and not do it. Always be correct.
Wu: There will be no blame, when he encounters a chance meeting with someone without exceeding the spirit of small excess. Any excessive effort must be curtailed. Nor it is proper to be persevering.
Line 5
六五: 密雲不雨, 自我西郊; 公弋,取彼在穴．
Wilhelm/Baynes: Dense clouds, no rain from our western territory. The prince shoots and hits him who is in the cave. (The man in the cave is line two. The word for shooting means shooting with an arrow attached to a line for the purpose of dragging in the game that has been shot. The connection arises from the fact that the present line and the second line are related through similarity of kind.)
Legge: The fifth line, magnetic, 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.
Blofeld: Dense clouds come from the western outskirts, but no rain falls. The prince shoots an arrow and hits someone in a cave.
Liu: Heavy clouds come from the west, but no rain. What the duke shoots he takes from the cave.
Shaughnessy: The dense clouds do not rain from our western pasture; the duke shoots and takes the skin in the cavern.
Cleary (1): Dense clouds not raining come from my neighborhood. The ruler shoots another in a cave.
Cleary (2): Dense clouds do not rain, coming from one’s western province. The prince shoots, catching the quarry in the den.
Wu: There are dense clouds, but no rain coming from our western countryside. The duke gets what is in the cave with an arrow tied to a string. (This implies that he solicits and gets the assistance of his correlate, the second yin line.)
Line 6
上六: 弗遇過之, 飛鳥離之. 凶, 是謂災眚．
Wilhelm/Baynes: He passes him by, not meeting him. The flying bird leaves him. Misfortune. This means bad luck and injury.
Legge: The sixth line, magnetic, shows its subject not meeting the exigency of her situation, and exceeding her proper course. It suggests the idea of a bird flying far aloft. There will be evil. The case is one of calamity and self-inflicted injury.
Blofeld: Instead of accosting him, he passed him by, The bird flew away from him -- misfortune in the form of natural calamity and deliberate injury.
Liu: He passes over someone, not meeting him. The birds fly away. Misfortune. There will be disaster.
Shaughnessy: Not meeting him, but surpassing him; the flying bird is netted in it; inauspicious. This is called calamitous imperfection.
Cleary (1): Don’t overstay here. The flying bird is gone. This is called calamity.
Cleary (2): The flying birds leave. This is unfortunate. This is called calamity.
Wu: He meets with no one even though he applies the spirit of small excess. Like a bird flying away from other birds, he is alone. Foreboding. It will be catastrophic.
Notes
For an in-depth glossary of I Ching, click here.
Hexagram 62 is the image of a bird with its wings about to fly up. However, it is not the right time yet. It is wise to fly down to the mountain to the safety of the nest.
For business, it implies that it’s not a good time to push forward for expansion or to start a new venture. Aiming too high yields no reward.
Stick to your daily routine, avoiding risks and tending to details are good at this moment. Keep a low profile and concentrate on small challenges. By doing so, your shortcomings will be viewed as small mistakes that can be easily forgiven.
