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Hexagram 62
小過Xiǎo Guò
Small departures from the usual measure, with attention to limits and modest aims.
Success. Constancy is beneficial. Small matters may be undertaken; great matters must not. A flying bird leaves its call. It is not fitting to rise; it is fitting to descend. Greatly favorable.
亨，利貞。可小事，不可大事。飛鳥遺之音，不宜上，宜下，大吉。
Thunder above the mountain: Preponderance of the Small. The exemplary person exceeds in courtesy when acting, in grief when mourning, and in thrift when using resources.
山上有雷，小過。君子以行過乎恭，喪過乎哀，用過乎儉。
Bottom to top
Line 1
飛鳥以凶。
The flying bird thereby meets misfortune.
The flying bird in Line 1 carries an adverse verdict; the Judgment has already favored descending rather than rising. Its change makes Fire below Thunder, Hexagram 55. Abundance offers a contrast to the present figure’s preference for small undertakings.
Read Line 1 in contextLine 2
過其祖，遇其妣；不及其君，遇其臣，无咎。
Passing the grandfather, meeting the grandmother; not reaching the ruler, meeting the minister. No fault.
Line 2 passes the grandfather for the grandmother and does not reach the ruler but meets the minister; the indirect meeting carries no fault. Moved, it becomes Hexagram 32, with wind replacing the inner mountain.
Read Line 2 in contextLine 3
弗過防之，從或戕之，凶。
Without extra precautions, someone following may attack and wound. Misfortune.
Line 3 warns of injury when precautions are insufficient. Its change makes Earth below Thunder, Hexagram 16. Shared movement can be considered alongside the need for protection.
Read Line 3 in contextLine 4
无咎，弗過遇之。往厲必戒，勿用永貞。
No fault. Without going too far, one meets what is needed. Going is dangerous; be on guard. Do not remain fixed in this course.
Line 4 warns against dangerous advance and against holding one course permanently. The traditional explanation calls for responding to what circumstances require. Its change makes Earth above Mountain, Hexagram 15, placing this flexibility beside modesty.
Read Line 4 in contextLine 5
密雲不雨，自我西郊，公弋取彼在穴。
Dense clouds, no rain, from our western outskirts. The duke shoots with a corded arrow and takes what is in the cave.
Dense clouds bring no rain, while the duke uses a corded arrow to take something hidden in a cave. Changing Line 5 makes Lake above Mountain, Hexagram 31. Influence supplies a theme to compare with these images of withheld rain and a sought target.
Read Line 5 in contextLine 6
弗遇過之，飛鳥離之，凶。是謂災眚。
Failing to meet it and passing beyond; the flying bird is caught. Misfortune. This is called disaster and injury.
Line 6 goes beyond the meeting; the bird is caught, and the text names disaster and injury. Its change makes Fire above Mountain, Hexagram 56. The traveler’s limited foothold offers a comparison with overreaching.
Read Line 6 in contextBinary index 12How the index works
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A cast determines which part of a hexagram governs the reading. When one line moves, that line is read as the focus; other moving-line counts use different focus rules.
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