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62) Xiaoguo: Predominance of the Small

Hexagram:

• C: There is thunder over a mountain, excessively small; superior people are excessively respectful in conduct, excessively sad in mourning, excessively thrifty in consumption.

• L: Predominance of the small is developmental, beneficial if correct. It is suitable for a small affair but not for a great one. The call left by a flying bird should not take rise but descend.  This is very auspicious.

• E: Being fulfilled but acting empty; inwardly strong, outwardly yielding, inwardly firm, outwardly flexible.

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Lines:

1 Yin:

• L: A bird that flies thereby brings misfortune.

• E: When firmness is weak in restraint, one should rest in the appropriate place and patiently refine the self, rather than rushing attainment. This is the predominance of the small vainly imagining the predominance of the great.

2 Yin:

• L: Passing the grandfather, you meet the mother; not reaching the lord, you meet the retainer. No fault.

• E: When weak but correctly oriented, one doesn’t use excess false yin but rather takes low true yang. This is the predominance of the small not going to excess.

3 Yang:

• L: If you do not overcome and forestall it, indulgence will cause harm, which would be unfortunate.

• E: When yang energy is replete, it is appropriate to foresee the danger and prevent indulgence that will injure the celestial elixir. This is the great predominating and ignorant of letting the small predominate.

4 Yang:

• L: No fault. Do not dally with it too much; it is dangerous to go on. Caution is necessary.  Don’t persist forever.

• E: When strength and flexibility have unified, one should cautiously await the appropriate time to transcend being and nonbeing, and attain self-realization. This means the predominance of the small should not be excessively yielding to artificial influences.

5 Yin:

• L: Dense clouds not raining come from my neighborhood. The ruler shoots another in a cave.

• E: Pure yin with no yang, void without reality, this is the predominance of the small ignorant of seeking the great.

6 Yin:

• L: Don’t overstay here. The flying bird is gone. This is called calamity.

• E: Knowing how to advance yang but not how to withdraw it, is ignorance in excess. This is dwelling too long on a basis of predominance of the small.