Hexagram 62: Xiao Guo

Judgment

亨。利貞。可小事，不可大事。飛鳥遺之音，不宜上宜下，大吉。

Hsiâo Kwo 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.

Steady, correct conduct makes progress possible. Small matters can be done and large ones cannot, and like a bird's call falling to earth, this time suits staying low, which is very good.

Image

山上有雷，小過；君子以行過乎恭，喪過乎哀，用過乎儉。

(The trigram representing) a hill and that for thunder above it form Hsiâo Kwo. 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.

Line 1 · 初六

飛鳥以凶。

The first line, divided, suggests (the idea of) a bird flying, (and ascending) till the issue is evil.

A bird still low and unready tries to fly high, and the flight ends badly. Reaching beyond what you can manage brings trouble.

Line 2 · 六二

過其祖，遇其妣；不及其君，遇其臣；无咎。

The second line, 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.

You pass your grandfather and meet your grandmother, and you stop short of the ruler and meet the minister instead. Keeping to your own level this way does no harm.

Line 3 · 九三

弗過防之，從或戕之，凶。

The third line, 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.

Skipping the extra precautions may let someone who follows along do you harm. The reading is bad, since this is a time that calls for more caution than usual.

Line 4 · 九四

无咎，弗過遇之。往厲必戒，勿用永貞。

The fourth line, 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.

Nothing is wrong, because you do not overreach and meet what comes. Going forward is risky and calls for care, and rigid insistence on one fixed stance does not suit the time.

Line 5 · 六五

密雲不雨，自我西郊，公弋取彼在穴。

The fifth line, 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.

Thick clouds gather from the west but no rain falls. A lord shoots a tethered arrow into a cave, a picture of reaching out to capable people who keep out of sight.

Line 6 · 上六

弗遇過之，飛鳥離之，凶，是謂災眚。

The sixth line, 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.

You overshoot and pass what you should have met, flying on like a bird into a snare. The text calls this a calamity you bring on yourself.