Hexagram 62 of 64
小过 xiǎo guò
Small Excess
震 (zhèn, Thunder) above · 艮 (gèn, Mountain) below
The Judgment 卦辞
The bird should fly low, not high. Small matters deserve extra care now — and in them, exceeding is fine; in great matters, hold back.
The Image 大象
Thunder on the mountain: small excess. The wise person uses an excess of reverence, an excess of grief, an excess of thrift.
The six lines 爻辞
Each line of 小过 has its own classical text. If a line in your cast is changing, its text is the heart of your reading.
Line 1 · 初六
The bird that flies too high — misfortune. Small wings should stay low.
「飞鸟以凶」
Line 2 · 六二
Passing the grandfather, meeting the grandmother; missing the ruler, meeting the minister. Off-target encounters that serve — no blame.
「过其祖，遇其妣；不及其君，遇其臣，无咎」
Line 3 · 九三
Failing to take precautions — someone may strike from your own following. Misfortune.
「弗过防之，从或戕之，凶」
Line 4 · 九四
No blame in meeting it halfway. Going further is danger — be warned; do not hold one course forever.
「无咎，弗过遇之，往厉必戒，勿用永贞」
Line 5 · 六五
Dense clouds, no rain, from the western outskirts. The duke strings his arrow and takes the quarry from its hole.
「密云不雨，自我西郊，公弋取彼在穴」
Line 6 · 上六
Flying past every meeting — the bird strays and is lost. Misfortune of one's own making.
「弗遇过之，飞鸟离之，凶，是谓灾眚」
If you drew this in a reading
A pattern of tension and craft. This hexagram belongs to the large middle family of mixed patterns: it works, but only along its own grain. Read the Judgment closely — mixed hexagrams usually name the exact condition on which their promise depends.
In yes/no questions this hexagram reads as “not yet clear” — the answer hinges on timing and execution.
The trigrams give the flavor: 震 (Thunder) above — arousing shock — movement, initiative, sudden change — over 艮 (Mountain) below — keeping still — restraint, meditation, knowing when to stop. Where those two energies meet, 小过 is born.
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