Hexagram 62 — Small Exceeding
King Wen #62 · plain-language meaning, the Image, and the classical text
Small overshooting. The bird flies low: go slightly beyond in small matters, not in great ones.
What Hexagram 62 Means 白话解读
Hexagram 62 places mountain (艮) beneath thunder (震) — stillness holding its ground below, movement breaking out of stillness above. This is why the tradition reads it as “Small Exceeding”: small overshooting. The bird flies low: go slightly beyond in small matters, not in great ones. Whenever you cast this figure, the classical reading points back to that turning of forces.
The Image 象傳
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.— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
Thunder above the mountain: small excess. The wise go a little further in courtesy, a little further in mourning, a little further in frugality.— plain-English rendering by The Hexagrams2
Hexagram 62 in Real Questions 實問實答
With money and work
Small Exceeding describes small overshooting. The bird flies low: go slightly beyond in small matters, not in great ones — and that is the posture the tradition recommends for practical matters under this figure: stillness holding its ground, held inside a larger setting of movement breaking out of stillness. It names a shape of timing, not a sum.
For a decision
If you cast Small Exceeding about a choice, the figure's counsel is the same movement it pictures: small overshooting. The bird flies low: go slightly beyond in small matters, not in great ones. When lines move in your cast, read them against this base — the moving lines show which part of the figure is awake for you, and the changed hexagram shows where it is heading.
Questions About Hexagram 62
What does 小過 (xiǎo guò) mean?
Hexagram 62 of the I Ching is named 小過 (xiǎo guò), usually rendered "Small Exceeding" in English editions. Its figure is built from mountain (艮) below and thunder (震) above — stillness holding its ground beneath movement breaking out of stillness.
Is hexagram 62 a good omen?
The received text of hexagram 62 is warm: it contains one occurrence of 吉 (good fortune), 3 of 凶 (misfortune), and 2 of 無咎 (no blame). The classical verdict is broadly favourable — with the lines' own conditions attached.
What does hexagram 62 mean in love?
In a relationship reading, Small Exceeding points to small overshooting. The bird flies low: go slightly beyond in small matters, not in great ones. The figure pairs mountain (艮) beneath thunder (震) — stillness holding its ground meeting movement breaking out of stillness — which is the traditional picture of how this energy behaves between two people. For how to phrase a love question before casting, see our guide to asking the I Ching about love.
What does hexagram 62 mean for career and money?
Career and money questions read Small Exceeding through the figure itself: mountain (艮) below, thunder (震) above — stillness holding its ground held inside movement breaking out of stillness. The plain reading: Small overshooting. The bird flies low: go slightly beyond in small matters, not in great ones. The text carries 1 mention of 吉 (good fortune) and 3 of 凶 (misfortune), so it is read as workable — provided the conduct the lines describe is kept.
What do the changing lines of hexagram 62 mean?
A cast of hexagram 62 can produce moving lines. Each of the six lines has its own statement (爻辭) in the classical text below, read from the bottom up, and a moving line is read as the part of the figure that is awake for your question. When a line moves it turns into its opposite, and the whole figure becomes a second hexagram: changing every line of 62 gives hexagram 61, 中孚 (Center Returning). Every line also has a page of its own on this site — Line 1 through Line 6 under this hexagram — with the classical Chinese and Legge's translation side by side.
How is hexagram 62 related to the other hexagrams?
Changing every line of hexagram 62 gives hexagram 61 — 中孚 (Center Returning). Turned upside down, the figure is itself — one of the eight hexagrams that stay unchanged when inverted. Its nuclear hexagram — the inner pattern of lines 2 through 5 — is hexagram 28 — 大過 (Great Exceeding).
Cast it yourself
Shake the tube, watch your own coins fall.
- The hexagram's classical meaning — judgment and all six lines
- Moving lines marked — but not read for you
- No account, no email, nothing to pay
Get the reading, not just the text
Same cast, read all the way through:
- Every line read for you — what each moving line means inside your question
- The changed hexagram — where your situation is heading, and how to read the turn
- A closing that answers you directly — act, wait, or say it out loud
New to casting? How it works · All 64 hexagrams
Related Hexagrams 錯綜互
The Classical Text 經文
亨，利貞；可小事，不可大事；飛鳥遺之音，不宜上，宜下，大吉。
Xiao Guo 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.— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
The Six Lines 爻辞
飛鳥以凶。
The first SIX, divided, suggests (the idea of) a bird flying, (and ascending) till the issue is evil.
過其祖，遇其妣；不及其君，遇其臣，無咎。
The second SIX, 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.
弗過防之，從或戕之，凶。
The third NINE, 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.
無咎，弗過遇之；往厲必戒，勿用永貞。
The fourth NINE, 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.
密雲不雨，自我西郊；公弋取彼在穴。
The fifth SIX, 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.
弗遇過之；飛鳥離之，凶，是謂災眚。
The sixth SIX, 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.
Line by Line 逐爻细读
1 Legge, James. The Yi King, Sacred Books of the East vol. XVI (1899), public domain. Classical Chinese from the received Zhouyi text.2 The Image (象傳) is an ancient text in the public domain; its plain-English gloss here is original to The Hexagrams, not a quotation from any copyrighted edition. · For reflection and entertainment — not financial, medical, or life advice.