Hexagram 62: Preponderance of the Small
Xiao Guo · 小過
The Judgment
Success. Persistence furthers. Small things may be done; great things should not be done. The flying bird brings the message: It is not well to strive upward, it is well to remain below. Great good fortune. Exceptional modesty and conscientiousness are sure to be rewarded with success; however, it is important that they should not become empty form and subservience but be combined always with correct dignity in personal behavior. We must understand the demands of the time to find the necessary offset for its deficiencies. We must not count on great success, since the requisite strength is lacking. A bird should not try to surpass itself and fly into the sun; it should descend to the earth, where its nest is.
The Image
Thunder on the mountain. In conduct, give preponderance to reverence. In bereavement, give preponderance to grief. In expenditures, give preponderance to thrift. Thunder on the mountain seems much nearer than thunder on the plain. Thus you must always fix your eyes more closely and more directly on duty than does the ordinary person, even though this might make your behavior seem petty to the outside world. You are exceptionally conscientious in actions. In bereavement, emotion means more than ceremoniousness. In personal expenditures, you are extremely simple and unpretentious.
「山上有雷，小過。」山上的雷聽起來比平地的近，聲音更直接。君子從這裡學到：比一般人更緊盯著自己的責任，即使看起來有點瑣碎。行為上格外認真，在喪事中真情比儀式重要，在花費上格外簡樸。這些做法看起來與眾不同，但重點在於：在外在事物上，站在低處那一邊。
The Six Lines
The bird meets with misfortune through flying. A bird ought to remain in the nest until it is fledged. If it tries to fly before this, it invites misfortune. Extraordinary measures should be resorted to only when all else fails. At first, put up with traditional ways as long as possible; otherwise you exhaust yourself and still achieve nothing.
She passes by her ancestor and meets her ancestress. He does not reach his prince and meets the official. No blame. This unusual behavior is an expression of modesty. She ventures to approach the ancestress, for she feels related to her by common sex. Hence here deviation from the rule is not a mistake. Another image: the official who conscientiously fulfills duty, taking place among other officials. This extraordinary restraint is likewise not a mistake in exceptional times.
If one is not extremely careful, somebody may come up from behind and strike. Misfortune. At certain times extraordinary caution is absolutely necessary. But upright and strong personalities who are conscious of being in the right disdain to hold themselves on guard because they consider it petty. This self-confidence deludes them. There are dangers lurking for which they are unprepared. Such danger is not unavoidable; one can escape it if one understands that the time demands attention to small and insignificant things.
No blame. He meets him without passing by. Going brings danger. One must be on guard. Do not act. Be constantly persevering. Hardness of character is tempered by yielding position so that no mistakes are made. The situation calls for extreme caution; one must make no attempt of one's own initiative to reach the desired end. Going on would bring danger. Therefore, be on guard and not act but continue inwardly to persevere.
Dense clouds, no rain from our western territory. The prince shoots and hits him who is in the cave. In exceptional times there may be a born ruler qualified to set the world in order, but who cannot achieve anything or confer blessing because they stand alone and have no helpers. In such times you must seek out helpers with whose aid you can carry out the task. But these helpers must be modestly sought out in the retirement to which they have withdrawn. It is not their fame but their genuine achievements that are important.
He passes him by, not meeting him. The flying bird leaves him. Misfortune. This means bad luck and injury. If one overshoots the goal, one cannot hit it. If a bird will not come to its nest but flies higher and higher, it eventually falls into the hunter's net. He who in times of preponderance of small things does not know how to call a halt, but restlessly seeks to press on and on, draws upon himself misfortune at the hands of gods and men, because he deviates from the order of nature.
Artwork & Treatise
At the Moulin Rouge
Toulouse-Lautrec, 1892
Harsh electric light floods the Moulin Rouge's interior, illuminating pale faces crowded around tables. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec painted this scene in 1892, documenting Paris nightlife's marginal figures—the cabaret dancer, the absinthe drinker, the ghostly woman in the foreground whose greenish face suggests illness or intoxication. These are not the grand subjects of history painting but the small dramas of entertainment districts, fleeting social moments in artificial light. The composition cuts figures at odd angles, capturing fragments rather than monumental wholes.
Toulouse-Lautrec embodies Xiao Guo (小過), Preponderance of the Small—Thunder above Mountain, Zhen over Gen. Movement restrained by stillness, arousing energy meeting immovable mass. The line structure shows strong yang at center with yin dominating outer positions, suggesting that small or yielding forces gain unusual prominence while great matters must wait. The character 小過 literally means "small exceeding," indicating minor concerns taking disproportionate attention. Not the emperor's court but the cabaret hall, not eternal truths but passing entertainments. Zhou Dynasty diviners saw this configuration when circumstances favored modesty over assertion, when marginal matters required careful tending, when the small became temporarily central.
{artwork_reasoning}
The Judgment addresses Toulouse-Lautrec's subject matter: "Preponderance of the Small. Success. Perseverance furthers. Small things may be done; great things should not be done. The flying bird brings the message: It is not well to strive upward, it is well to remain below. Great good fortune." The cabaret is precisely this—earthward attention, small pleasures, moments that pass without historical weight. Ancient texts describe a bird that should not fly too high, focusing instead on immediate, practical concerns. In divination, Xiao Guo appeared when grand undertakings must yield to modest maintenance.
The Image Text offers counsel the painter might recognize: "Thunder on the mountain: the image of Preponderance of the Small. Thus in his conduct the superior one gives preponderance to reverence. In bereavement he gives preponderance to grief. In his expenditures he gives preponderance to thrift." This is not a moment for transformation but for exceptional attention to minor courtesies, mundane details. In the I-Ching sequence, Xiao Guo follows Inner Truth—after sincere judgment comes acceptance that some periods favor small over great, the marginal over the monumental.
Yilin Verse
初雖驚惶，後反无傷，受其福慶。
Jiao Yanshou's Forest of Changes (焦氏易林) — Unchanging verse for 小過 (Xiao Guo)
Character-by-Character Breakdown
Classical Chinese text with pinyin and English meanings