#62小过 Little Excess – Taking Heed & Standing out
小过 雷山小过 震上艮下
This hexagram has a Thunder trigram on top of a Mountain trigram. Thunder on the mountaintop sounds louder than on the plain and hence represents Little Excess or little more. It is slightly over the limits, exceeding the boundary by a little. It teaches one to be watchful and correct small mistakes before they become big ones. For the good things, like honoring others, it teaches ask to do a little more than is expected. There are two solid lines in the middle representing the body of a bird and the four broken lines on the outside represent the flapping wings. Hence, you can see that flying & birds are used in the commentaries.
Description:
- 亨: a smooth flow of progress
- 利贞: beneficial for perseverance in righteousness
- 可小事: can be for a small thing
- 不可大事: cannot be a big thing
- 飞鸟遗之音，不宜上宜下，大吉: there remains the calling of passing birds, not suitable for going up but suitable for going down. It is a great fortune.
Textual Commentary:
彖曰：小过，小者过而亨也。 过以利贞，与时行也。 柔得中，是以小事 吉也。 刚失位而不中，是以不可大事也。 有飞鸟之象焉，有飞鸟遗之音，不宜上宜下，大吉；上逆而下顺也。
Little excess means the small has passed and it is a smooth flow. This is beneficial or perseverance in righteousness. It must follow the times and trends. Softness is at the center and doing small things will bring fortune. The strong lost their positions and are not at the center, therefore it is not good for doing great things. There is the image of flying birds. There remained the calling of passing birds. It is suitable for going downwards but not for going upwards. This is a great fortune. Going upwards will meet resistance but going downwards will be a smooth flow.
Pictorial Commentary: 象曰：山上有雷，小过；君子以行过乎恭，丧过乎哀，用过乎俭。
There is thunder on the mountain top giving rise to little excess. A wise man in his behavior shows a little more respect, in mourning shows a little more sorrow, and in spending is a little more thrifty.
Moral Teachings:
- Take heed of small things and try to do a little bit more.
- For small mistakes, we must quickly learn and correct them and we can flow freely with good progress.
- For good and righteous things, let us put a little more effort and give a little more than expected. This is the secret to delighting customers. A little, need not be a lot, more than expected will give a present surprise. Too much will be a shock and may not create the result you want.
- In terms of time, we must follow and be slightly ahead of others in the trend to lead. Too much ahead is the bleeding edge or leading edge. Don’t try to beat the trend. Following it is good enough.
- Don’t try to do too much, just a little more and a little better.
- Don’t go against the top but just serve the bottom mass a little more.
- In everything good and right, such as giving honor, understanding and comforting, and cost control, do a little bit more.
Stage 1 Begin Six: Flying birds indicate pending disaster. 初六：飞鸟以凶。
The pictorial commentary explains that the flying indicates disaster because they are at a loss. 象曰：飞鸟以凶，不可如何也。
Watch for little signs, such as the sudden flight of birds. A sudden flight of birds shows that they are disturbed and indicates there are people coming. A flight of vultures in the air tells you where the dead bodies are. In any situation, watch out for the little signs of movements or deviations from the normal. They are the alerts for us to take heed of.
Stage 2 Second Six: Pass the Grandfather but meet the Grandmother. Not able to reach the King but meet his ministers. There is no fault. 六二：过其祖，遇其妣；不及其君，遇其臣；无咎。
The pictorial commentary tells us not to bypass the ministers to reach the King when we don’t really know the king. 象曰：不及其君，臣不可过也。
We fail to meet the very top but the 2nd in command. Having the 2nd best is still a good place to work on. It takes a little longer but we can still succeed.
Stage 3 Third Nine: Not taking extra precautions and some others find opportunities to cause harm. This is a disaster. 九三：弗过防之，从或戕之，凶。
The pictorial commentary explains the harm came and the disaster is unavoidable. 象曰：从或戕之，凶如何也。
Why did we not take extra precautions? Sometimes it is because we are too confident in our past experiences. We miss the signs that tell us the world is changing and it will not be like in the past. (We miss the stage 1 flying bird warning). How many people have been in the recent Financial subprime meltdown? When it was happening, some financial consultant confidently told me it was just the normal up-and-down business cycle. How wrong he was!
Stage 4 Forth Nine: No fault. Did not miss and meet up with it. Going forward is dangerous and one must take precautions. Do not insist on doing it. 九四：无咎，弗过遇之。 往厉必戒，勿用永贞。
The pictorial description explains that the meeting occurs from incorrect positions. Going is dangerous needing caution means it will not last long. 象曰：弗过遇之，位不当也。 往厉必戒，终不可长也。
The pictorial commentary tells us that the chance meeting is because of an incorrect position. It is by mistake! Maybe fluke. Hence, going forward will be dangerous and the thing cannot last long. There is no fault but it is a dangerous undertaking. If we can put in a little extra effort here and there to take care of the danger, the project may be OK. Would it be better for us to put the effort somewhere else?
Stage 5 Fifth Six: Dense clouds but no rain. Coming from the western wilderness. The King shot and caught him in the cave. 六五：密云不雨，自我西郊，公弋取彼在穴。
The pictorial commentary explains that the dense cloud yet no rain is because it has gone higher. 象曰：密云不雨，已上也。
There is the expectation of rain, representing blessings, but it did not come at all. The people have gone into hiding in the cave due to the coming rain. This is showing those in charge, the King is not capable or selfish. There is no true performance. The people of talent are in hiding. The King must make the extra effort to hunt them out.
Stage 6 Top Six: Overshot and miss meeting. The bird flies past him. It is a disaster. This is called calamity and mistake 上六：弗遇过之，飞鸟离之，凶，是谓灾眚。
The pictorial commentary explains that the missing is because it is over the top. 象曰：弗遇过之，已亢也。
This is not a little more. This is excessively over. It is over the top most, over the flight of the birds. No one is able to keep up and hence bring forth its disaster. These are people who are what a Chinese phrase describes as “好高骛远”， meaning unrealistic in our expectations, desiring something high above what we can realistically achieve. Excessive can occur in-depth or in width. Too many ‘little more’ all over the place will strain the organization as well as do excessive much in a narrow niche.
Summary
- For the righteous and good things, do a little more than expected. It will create delights.
- For the bad things, correct the little mistakes before they become a disaster.
- Be watchful for the little signs of deviations from normal, they are alerts. Take heed.
- Follow the trend, just stay a little ahead of others, to be on the leading edge. Excessive ahead is called the bleeding edge of big losses.
This is summarized well by Art Linkletter, a successful TV host, and businessman that lived to 97,
“Do a little more than you’re paid to. Give a little more than you have to. Try a little harder than you want to. Aim a little higher than you think possible, and give a lot of thanks to God for health, family, and friends.“
“You live between your ears. You can’t turn back the clock, but you can rewind it.” — Art Linkletter on the secret of his longevity.
Wisdom from the Stage Lines:
- Bird flying. Heed the signs of danger pending. Be watchful of small deviations from the norm.
- 2nd best opportunity is still good. Work on it.
- Did not take extra care and got injured. Learn from it and wise up. Next time do it with a little more care.
- Opportunity but has many risks. Consider carefully before proceeding.
- Large but not productive or profitable. The boss needs to make a little more effort to seek out and hire talented people to help.
- Higher than what a bird can reach. That is way overboard. It will end in disaster. Come down from your height and be more realistic.
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