小過Xiaoguo · Small Excess
In one sentence
Small things can be done; do not touch the big ones. Better to stay a little low.
A situation that has gone a little past the mark. Like a bird that flies by and leaves its cry behind: flying higher is not right, coming down is what is safe. Lower your posture and shrink your goals. Better a bit more respect and a bit more thrift. Now is not the time for big moves.
Asking about work, love or money
- Work
- This is not the time for big moves. Small things can be done, so do the everyday work carefully; set aside plans that climb too high or spread too wide. Like a bird, flying upward doesn't suit now, and coming down is what's safe. Keep a lower profile, show people a bit more respect, and rather be called overcautious.
- Love
- No grand gestures: this doesn't suit a sudden confession, pressing for a lifelong commitment, or a showdown. Do the small things well: everyday care, a gentler way of speaking, and rather a little extra consideration. Lower your expectations a bit, and don't prop the relationship up too high. Time together that stays down to earth is what feels secure.
- Money
- Rather be too frugal. Small, everyday matters can be done; big outlays and big expansion are not to be touched. Make your goals small, and don't reach for high places. Coming down is what's safe now: spend sparingly, keep a low profile, and simply hold on to what you have.
This is the hexagram as a whole. If your cast has changing lines, the line text governs; each line's page has its own reading for work, love and money.
The judgment
In plain wordsThings go through, and it is favorable to stay true. You may do small things; you may not do great things. The cry a flying bird leaves behind carries downward, not upward: it is not right to go up, it is right to go down. Great good fortune.
The Tuan commentary
小過，小者過而亨也。過以利貞，與時行也。柔得中，是以小事吉也。剛失位而不中，是以不可大事也。有飛鳥之象焉，飛鳥遺之音，不宜上宜下，大吉；上逆而下順也。
Xiaoguo: the small exceed, and there is success. Exceeding, and with it "it is favorable to stay true": this is moving with the time. The yielding holds the center; that is why in small matters there is good fortune. The firm has lost its place and is not in the center; that is why great things may not be done. There is the image of a flying bird in it. "The flying bird leaves its call behind. It is not right to go up; it is right to go down. Great good fortune": going up goes against the current; going down goes with it.
The Tuan (“judgment”) commentary is one of the Ten Wings. It explains the hexagram name and the judgment from the two trigrams and the positions of the lines.
The image
山上有雷，小過。君子以行過乎恭，喪過乎哀，用過乎儉。
Thunder on the mountain: Xiaoguo (Small Excess). The noble one in conduct goes a little far in reverence, in mourning a little far in grief, in spending a little far in thrift.
The lines
Six at the beginning
Text飛鳥以凶。The bird flies on, and so there is misfortune.In plain wordsThe bird keeps flying higher and higher, and because of that there is misfortune. When it is time to go down, it insists on going up. More on this line →
Six in the second place
Text過其祖，遇其妣。不及其君，遇其臣，无咎。Passing by the grandfather, meeting the grandmother. Not reaching the ruler, meeting the minister. No blame.In plain wordsYou go past the grandfather and meet the grandmother; you do not reach the ruler and meet the minister. It looks as if you have overstepped, but in fact you have kept to your proper place. No blame. More on this line →
Nine in the third place
Text弗過防之，從或戕之，凶。Not taking extra care to guard oneself, one may be followed and harmed. Misfortune.In plain wordsIf you will not take a little extra precaution, someone may strike you from behind. Misfortune. Relying on your own strength and scorning caution is exactly where you lose. Better to over-guard. More on this line →
Nine in the fourth place
Text无咎，弗過遇之。往厲必戒，勿用永貞。No blame. Without going too far, one meets it. Going on is dangerous; one must be on guard. Do not hold to one course forever.In plain wordsNo blame: you do not force your strength, and that is exactly what suits the time. To go further would be dangerous; you must be on your guard. And do not cling rigidly to one way without changing. Act as the situation requires. More on this line →
Six in the fifth place
Text密雲不雨，自我西郊。公弋取彼在穴。Dense clouds but no rain, coming from our western outskirts. The duke shoots a corded arrow and takes the one in the cave.In plain wordsDark clouds cover the sky but no rain falls; they drift in from the western outskirts. Your own strength is not enough, and all you can do is pull a helper out of a cave. Two weak ones put together cannot accomplish anything great. More on this line →
Six at the top
Text弗遇過之，飛鳥離之，凶，是謂災眚。Not meeting it, one passes it by. The flying bird is caught in the net. Misfortune. This is called calamity and disaster.In plain wordsInstead of fitting the moment you go far past it, like a bird that flies too high and too far and crashes straight into the net. Misfortune. This is what is called disaster from heaven and harm of your own making. More on this line →
Lines are counted from the bottom. “Nine” is a yang (solid) line, “six” a yin (broken) line. A line applies to your reading only when it is a changing line.
Related hexagrams
Primary, resulting, nuclear, opposite and inverted hexagrams explained →
In the hexagram calendar
In the Tang monk Yixing’s Dayan calendar, Xiaoguo belongs to the third pentad of Major Cold, “Ice grows thick on the marsh” (January 30 to February 3, 2027) and the first pentad of Start of Spring, “The east wind thaws the ice” (February 4 to February 8, 2027).