Hexagram 62: Small Excess
Outer trigram (upper)
Chấn
Thunder · Wood
Inner trigram (lower)
Cấn
Mountain · Earth
Judgment
小過：亨，利貞，可小事，不可大事，飛鳥遺之音，不宜上，宜下，大吉.
Translation
Tiểu Quá (a small excess): success. Favorable to hold to correctness. Small matters can be undertaken; great matters cannot. A flying bird leaves behind its cry — it should not fly upward but stay low; greatly auspicious.
Commentary
Chấn above is thunder, Cấn below is a mountain. Thunder over a mountain — its sound carries beyond. Four yin lines surround two yang lines at the center: yin outnumbers yang, so the petty person has a slight edge. One should attend to small matters, not great ones — like a flying bird, better to stay low and humble than to soar high.
Line Readings
Line 1 (yin)
初六：飛鳥以凶.
Translation
The bird flies — inauspicious.
Commentary
Line 1, yin, at the bottom, wants to fly high, beyond its real strength. For a bird to take flight in these circumstances is inauspicious.
Line 2 (yin)
六二：過其祖，遇其妣，不及其君，遇其臣，无咎.
Translation
Passing by the grandfather to meet the grandmother; not reaching the ruler but meeting his minister. No blame.
Commentary
Line 2, yin, holds the center and is in its correct position. Rather than seeking out someone too far above — the ruler, the grandfather — it meets someone more fitting — the grandmother, the minister — within its real reach. No blame.
Line 3 (yang)
九三：弗過，防之，從或戕之，凶.
Translation
Not overreaching — staying on guard against it; yet someone may follow and cause harm. Inauspicious.
Commentary
Line 3, yang, is in its correct position but is not careful enough — its guard is insufficient — and is struck from behind by a petty person. Inauspicious.
Line 4 (yang)
九四：无咎，弗過，遇之，往厲必戒，勿用永貞.
Translation
No blame. Without overreaching, it meets what it seeks; advancing is dangerous and calls for caution — this is no principle to hold rigidly forever.
Commentary
Line 4, yang, is in its correct position. It does not overreach its limits and meets someone who responds to it. Advancing is dangerous, so care is needed, and it should not cling to a single fixed course forever.
Line 5 (yin)
六五：密雲不雨，自我西郊，公弋，取彼在穴.
Translation
Dense clouds without rain, coming from our western outskirts; the duke shoots an arrow and takes the creature from its den.
Commentary
Line 5, yin, holds the position of honor but is soft and yielding — clouds not yet strong enough to become rain — and lacks the strength for great undertakings. It must use means suited to its real reach: shooting an arrow to take game from its den, a small task within its capacity.
Line 6 (yin)
上六：弗遇，過之，飛鳥離之，凶，是謂災眚.
Translation
Failing to meet the right match, having already overreached — a bird flying too high is caught in a snare. Inauspicious. This is called a disaster of one's own making.
Commentary
Top line, yin, at the extreme. It has overreached so far that it meets no one who responds to it, like a bird flying too high and caught in a snare. Inauspicious — a disaster brought on by itself.