Xiao Guo · Small Excess

The meaning

What the name means Xiao Guo is a small excess: a little more care in small things.

The picture Thunder on a mountain, the sound not great, a bird flying and leaving only its cry; do not fly high.

The sense of the whole The whole hexagram is about low-key measure. It suits small and everyday things, not risks. A little too much courtesy or thrift is safer.

In plain words: what this hexagram says

In small things you may go a bit beyond; in big things do not force. Keep low, add modesty and detail, and it goes smoothly.

The upper trigram is Thunder and the lower is Mountain: Thunder above, Mountain below. When you read it, first picture the two together as a scene, then set it against the original below. The plain words speak only of stance and do not foretell.

The judgement

亨，利貞。可小事，不可大事。飛鳥遺之音，不宜上宜下，大吉。

The image

山上有雷，小過；君子以行過乎恭，喪過乎哀，用過乎儉。

The six lines

From the bottom up, the first line is the lowest. When you cast this hexagram and a line is changing, read the matching one. The original is classical Chinese.

1. 初六飛鳥以兇。
2. 六二過其祖，遇其妣；不及其君，遇其臣；無咎。
3. 九三弗過防之，從或戕之，兇。
4. 九四無咎，弗過遇之。往厲必戒，勿用永貞。
5. 六五密雲不雨，自我西郊，公弋取彼在穴。
6. 上六弗遇過之，飛鳥離之，兇，是謂災眚。

To learn how to read a hexagram, see "How to read a hexagram"; for changing lines, see "Changing lines and the resulting hexagram".