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Small Powers62
Focus on the details. Embrace humility and small steps to achieve success. Avoid overreaching or taking on too much to prevent failure.
↓ Line 3
This line warns of potential danger from unexpected sources. It advises vigilance and awareness of one's surroundings to avoid being caught off guard.
↓ Line 5
This line indicates that while conditions may seem unfavorable, success is still possible through careful and precise actions. It suggests that one should focus on what can be achieved rather than what seems impossible.
↓ Line 6
This line warns against missing opportunities or failing to connect with others. It suggests that one should be mindful of their actions and avoid isolation or detachment.
↓ Divorcement12
Progress stalls as negative influences prevail. Patience and self-reflection are key to overcoming obstacles.
Original Readings
62 Small Powers
Other titles: Preponderance of the Small, The Symbol of Excess in Small Things, The Small get by, Slight Excess, Small Exceeding, Small Surpassing, Excess of the Small, Small gains, Conscientiousness, Smallness in Excess, Exceeding the Mean, Proliferation of Details, "Like a bird, do not fly too high or attempt too much because this will lead to disaster." -- D.F. Hook
Judgment
Legge:Small Powers indicates that there will be progress and attainment in small affairs, but not in great affairs. It will be advantageous to be firm and correct. It is like the song of a flying bird: It is better to descend than to ascend. In this way there will be good fortune.
Wilhelm/Baynes: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.
Blofeld:The Small Get By -- success! Persistence in a righteous course brings reward. Small things can be accomplished now, but not great ones. When birds fly high, their singing is out of tune. The humble, but not the mighty, are favored now with great good fortune. [To aim high now would be to put ourselves out of accord with the times.]
Liu:Slight Excess. Success. Continuing is of benefit. Undertaking small things, not great things. The song of the flying bird. It is not good to go up; it is good to stay below. Great good fortune. [Slight Excess signifies the slight excess or small mistake that can prevent the achievement of great things.]
Ritsema/Karcher:Small Exceeding, Growing. Harvesting Trial. Permitting Small
Affairs. Not permitting Great Affairs. Flying bird: abandoning's sound. Above not proper, below proper. The great significant. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of an overwhelming variety of encounters and details. It emphasizes that an excessive concern with adapting yourself to these inner and outer events is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy: Small Surpassing : Receipt; beneficial to determine; possible for little service, but not possible for great service. The sound left by the flying bird is not proper for ascent but is proper for descent; greatly auspicious.
Cleary (1):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 rise but descend. This is very auspicious.
Cleary (2):Small excess turns out all right. It is beneficial to be correct. It is all right for small matters, not for great matters. A flying bird leaves its cry; it should not ascend but descend – then there will be great good fortune.
Wu: Excess of the Small indicates pervasiveness and the advantage of being persevering. One may succeed in doing small business, but not big one. Like the lingering sound of a bird flying by, it is not suitable to go upward, but suitable to go downward. Great fortune.
The Image
Legge: The image of thunder above a hill forms Small Powers. 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.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Thunder on the mountain: the image of Preponderance of the Small. Thus in his conduct the superior man gives preponderance to reverence. In bereavement he gives preponderance to grief. In his expenditures he gives preponderance to thrift. [The superior man derives an imperative from this image: he must always fix his eyes more closely and more directly on duty than does the ordinary man, even though this might make his behavior seem petty to the outside world. He is exceptionally conscientious in his actions.]
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes thunder over the mountains. The Superior Man now acts with too much reverence, experiences too much sorrow from bereavement and is overly thrifty in satisfying his needs.
Liu: Thunder over the mountain symbolizes Slight Excess. The superior man's conduct is overly humble; In mourning he laments exceedingly, and he is stingy in his spending.
Ritsema/Karcher: Above mountain possessing thunder. Small Exceeding. A chun tzu uses moving Exceeding to reach-to courtesy. A chun tzu uses losing Exceeding to reach-to mourning. A chun tzu uses availing of Exceeding to reach-to parsimony.
Cleary (1): There is thunder over a mountain, exessively small. Thus superior people are excessively deferential in conduct, excessively sad in mourning, excessively frugal in consumption.
Cleary (2): Thunder over a mountain – small excess. Genteel people are exceedingly deferential in conduct, exceedingly sad in mourning, and exceedingly abstemious in consumption.
Wu: Thunder rolls over the mountain; this is Excess of the Small. Thus the jun zi conducts himself with a little excess in respect to others, a little excess in sorrow at mourning, and a little excess in frugality in expenditure.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: In Small Powers we see the magnetic lines exceeding the others, and giving the intimation of progress and attainment. To be advantageous, such excesses must be associated with firm correctness, and must always be in harmony with the requirements of the time. The magnetic lines are in the central places, and hence it is said that small excesses may be done in small affairs with good effect. Of the dynamic lines, one is not in its proper place, and the other is not central; thus it is said that small excesses should not be done in great affairs. In the hexagram we have the symbol of the flying bird, whose song reminds us that it is better to descend than ascend. To ascend is contrary to what is reasonable in the case, while to descend is natural and right.
Legge: The meaning of this hexagram in which an excess of yin lines prevails, may be grasped by contrasting its image with that of hexagram number twenty-eight, Critical Mass, in which an excess of yang lines prevails. Here the idea is the prevalence of small or inferior powers, and the lesson to be learned is how to distinguish essentials from non-essentials. Is it ever good to deviate from the established course of procedure? The answer is that it is permissible only in small matters, but never in matters of import. Sometimes form may be dispensed with, but never substance, and the thing must always be done responsibly and with appropriate humility. The symbol of the bird is to teach humility -- it is better for it to descend, keeping near to where it can perch and rest, than to ascend into the homeless regions of the upper air.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Ground your flights of fancy.
The Superior Man bends over backwards to be correct.
Small Powers shows the preceding figure of Inner Truth turned inside-out. Here the magnetic lines are all on the outside -- uncontained and uncontrolled. The hexagram often reflects a situation in which the "archetypes": the passions, appetites, emotions, drives and instincts have left their proper places within the psyche and are flying free like birds escaped from the zoo. Most of the lines either depict the danger of such a situation or warn about how to control it.
In this inflated, compulsive state of identity, we and the drive are at our most harmful; the drive will unfold and we will act out its extreme, inappropriate and destructive side. In the process we get the worst of it, along with the other people involved. The wrong thing usually happens at the wrong time and in the wrong place. A capacity for moving toward differentiation and transforming the drive will not arise until the state of identity has been dissolved. This requires a confrontation of the drive as a Thou, as something that is not I, as something separate from ourselves. Only at this point can the inner dialogue begin. Until then the drive remains unconscious, primitive and destructive. Only after the identity has been dissolved by learning to experience the drive as an autonomous entity that is separate from the ego, do we get a chance to choose a right time and place and to develop the positive potential of the drive. E.C. Whitmont --The Symbolic Quest
Interestingly, the only line that seems to be correctly "out of its cage" is the second -- suggesting a situation in which an intuitive inner wisdom takes proper precedence over the usual firm correctness of "reason."
Line 3
Legge: The third line, dynamic, shows its subject taking no extraordinary precautions against danger, and some in consequence finding opportunity to assail and injure him. There will be evil.
Wilhelm/Baynes: If one is not extremely careful, somebody may come up from behind and strike him. Misfortune.
Blofeld: Unless he takes appropriate precautions, one of his subordinates may slay him -- misfortune!
Liu: If he does not protect himself carefully, someone will stab him in the back. Misfortune.
Ritsema/Karcher: Nowhere Exceeding defending-against it. Adhering, maybe killing it. Pitfall.
Shaughnessy: Not surpassing him but repelling him, following which someone injures him; inauspicious.
Cleary (1): If you do not overcome and forestall it, indulgence will cause harm, which would be unfortunate.
Cleary (2): One does not take precautions in excess, so pursuers attack one. This is unfortunate.
Wu: Ignoring to secure a little excess of protection, he may be fatally wounded. Foreboding.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: There will be evil: how great it will be! Wilhelm/Baynes: What a misfortune this is! Blofeld: Were that to happen, it would indeed be misfortune! Ritsema/Karcher: Wherefore a pitfall thus indeed. Cleary (2): Pursuers attack one. How unfortunate! Wu: How can it not be foreboding?
Legge: The subject of line three is too confident in his own strength, and too defiant of the magnetic enemies that seek to hurt him.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man is disdainful of weak enemies and does not exercise adequate precautions in the face of apparently insignificant signs. He will be hurt.
Wing: This is a warning. Because you are in the right and things have gone smoothly in the past, you may be tempted to overlook details and become overly confident. Dangers are lurking. They can be avoided with Conscientiousness. Take precautions now.
Editor: The "magnetic enemies" are all of the yin lines in the hexagram, seen here as treacherous adversaries. There is no ambiguity in this line at all -- it is saying in the clearest possible terms to "Watch out!"
We are therefore on safe ground when we speak of a personal part of the psyche consisting of the conscious and controllable elements, and a nonpersonal part consisting of those elements not controlled by the conscious I but superordinated to and acting independently of it, often dominating it and forcing it to act contrary to its desires ... A man in this stage of self-consciousness does not realize as a rule that ideas occur to him without his willing them, that actions are performed through him -- that he is being used by thoughts and impulses arising from something other than his I. M.E. Harding -- Psychic Energy
A. You are vulnerable to harm -- wake up!
B. You have taken no precautions against the threat of attack from unseen quarters. If you are not extremely careful, you're going to get hurt.
Line 5
Legge: The fifth line, magnetic, 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.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Dense clouds, no rain from our western territory. The prince shoots and hits him who is in the cave. [The man in the cave is line two. The word for shooting means shooting with an arrow attached to a line for the purpose of dragging in the game that has been shot. The connection arises from the fact that the present line and the second line are related through similarity of kind.]
Blofeld: Dense clouds come from the western outskirts, but no rain falls. The prince shoots an arrow and hits someone in a cave.
Liu: Heavy clouds come from the west, but no rain. What the duke shoots he takes from the cave.
Ritsema/Karcher: Shrouding clouds, not raining. Originating- from my Western suburbs. A prince, a string-arrow grasping another located-in a cave.
Shaughnessy: The dense clouds do not rain from our western pasture; the duke shoots and takes the skin in the cavern.
Cleary (1): Dense clouds not raining come from my neighborhood. The ruler shoots another in a cave.
Cleary (2): Dense clouds do not rain, coming from one’s western province. The prince shoots, catching the quarry in the den.
Wu: There are dense clouds, but no rain coming from our western countryside. The duke gets what is in the cave with an arrow tied to a string. [This implies that he solicits and gets the assistance of his correlate, the second yin line.]
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: There are dense clouds, but no rain -- the line is in too high a place. Wilhelm/Baynes: He is already above. Blofeld: Dense clouds and no rain points to their having risen too high. [Something which could have been of great help to us passes us by.] Ritsema/Karcher: Above climaxing indeed. Cleary (2): ( The clouds) have already risen. Wu: The clouds have been blown away by high winds.
Legge: Line five, though in the ruler's seat, is magnetic, and incapable of doing anything great. It is a yin line, and too high. If the line were yang, the auspice would be different. He is called the prince because of the ruler's seat, and the bird in the cave that he captures is the subject of line two.
Anthony: To distrust our path is to distrust the Sage who guides us. We cannot make our way in the hidden world alone; we need the Sage’s help, which can only be obtained through a modest acceptance of our fate.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: Because of the lack of able helpers, the prince is unsuccessful in his attempts to set the world in order. He searches intently for the required talents among those who have retired from the public scene. The right man with a demonstrated record of achievement is finally found and the difficult task completed.
Wing: Your strength is adequate to bring forth that which you desire, but your position is not appropriate. You will need help from others. Modestly seek such assistance from qualified people and you can accomplish your aim.
Editor: There are two sets of images here -- the first suggests an accumulation of latent energy and the second the grasp of something concealed. Rain symbolizes the union of heaven and earth -- the connection between higher and lower, inner and outer. Dense clouds therefore represent a buildup of unreleased tension: union has yet to be accomplished. The arrow shot into the cave with a line attached to it traditionally symbolizes the link between this line’s magnetic second-line correlate. (Meditation on the differences between the two lines and their respective messages is often useful in discerning subtle ego/Self relationships.) The arrow suggests discrimination or comprehension -- to shoot an arrow into the heart of something is a conscious, active attempt to pierce its essence, to comprehend it. To shoot into the darkness of a cave symbolizes seeking comprehension of what is unknown or unconscious; it can also suggest "a shot in the dark" -- a guess. Only Legge identifies the target as a bird – the other translations are less specific: the object is “something or someone” hidden from consciousness. As a creature of the air, a bird represents thoughts, ideas, concepts, intelligible answers, etc. , so this often applies in the interpretation. (Note how central the bird symbol is in this hexagram.) The line suggests one seeking comprehension of an unknown situation or process and receiving relatively little satisfaction -- the answer is out of reach ("too high") in the imagery of the Confucian commentary. If this is the only changing line, the new hexagram created is Number 31, Influence, which often carries the connotation of “importuning” – suggesting that perhaps you are seeking information which the oracle has no intention of providing, or you are incapable of understanding at this stage: it’s too high, it’s beyond you. (See commentary on Hex 31 for more details.) Also compare this line with the virtually identical message in the Judgement of Hexagram 9: ’TheTaming Power of the Small has success. Dense clouds, no rain from our western region.’ This repetition of the theme of ’smallness’ (in all of its possible connotations) is useful to contemplate here.
Thus does the Archer hunt his quarry, for as the huntsman seeks to kill his prey for food, so does the (Self) seek out conscious contact with its projection (the ego) for similar reasons, for the fully illuminated man is he who is dead to the domination of the lower worlds, using his vehicles in the lower worlds for the ends of his higher nature. Gareth Knight -- Qabalistic Symbolism
A. A build-up of tension without release: You are groping in the dark. Play it by ear until the situation clarifies. Don’t get ahead of yourself.
B. The answer to your question is beyond your present ability to comprehend.
Line 6
Legge: The sixth line, magnetic, shows its subject not meeting the exigency of her situation, and exceeding her proper course. It suggests the idea of a bird flying far aloft. There will be evil. The case is one of calamity and self-inflicted injury.
Wilhelm/Baynes: He passes him by, not meeting him. The flying bird leaves him. Misfortune. This means bad luck and injury.
Blofeld: Instead of accosting him, he passed him by, The bird flew away from him -- misfortune in the form of natural calamity and deliberate injury.
Liu: He passes over someone, not meeting him. The birds fly away. Misfortune. There will be disaster.
Ritsema/Karcher: Nowhere meeting, Exceeding it. Flying bird radiating it. Pitfall. That designates Calamity and Blunder.
Shaughnessy: Not meeting him, but surpassing him; the flying bird is netted in it; inauspicious. This is called calamitous imperfection.
Cleary (1): Don’t overstay here. The flying bird is gone. This is called calamity.
Cleary (2): The flying birds leave. This is unfortunate. This is called calamity.
Wu: He meets with no one even though he applies the spirit of small excess. Like a bird flying away from other birds, he is alone. Foreboding. It will be catastrophic.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The position indicates the habit of domineering. Wilhelm/ Baynes: He is already arrogant. Blofeld: The first sentence suggests that we behave too arrogantly. Ritsema/Karcher: Climaxing overbearing indeed. Cleary (2): Passing by without meeting is because of arrogance. Wu: Because he is too arrogant.
Legge: Line six is magnetic at the top of the trigram of Movement. She is possessed by the idea of the hexagram to an extreme degree, and is incapable of keeping herself under restraint.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man does not know how to control his preoccupation with trivia. His overshooting and restlessly pressing on bring disappointment and calamity to himself and his people.
Wing: Your ambitions may be too great. In an aggressive attempt to reach an unrealistic goal you will meet with disaster.
Editor: Wilhelm and Blofeld both translate "domineering" as "arrogance," thus creating an image of rising above one's proper station (exceeding the mean) through over-confidence or pride. If we accept the universal symbol of the bird as emblematic of thoughts or thought processes, the line becomes a commentary on the dangers of excessive intellectualism. Compare this line with the sixth line of hexagram number fifty-six.
Wherever there is identity, as we have seen, there is compulsiveness. When we are identical with a drive we never question why we are moving or where we are going: there is only automatic response to an impulse. This state of compulsiveness, moreover, gives us the feeling of being carried by a tremendous force of energy, in much the same way that an automobile going at the speed of eighty miles an hour may give us a feeling of exhilaration: We are really going fast now! This exhilaration, this unquestioning feeling of assurance that "I'm really going, and I'm going fine and well" is called inflation. E.C. Whitmont -- The Symbolic Quest
A. You have missed the mark. Arrogance or overconfidence have put your head in the clouds.
12 Divorcement
Other titles: Standstill, The Symbol of Closing, Stagnation, Obstruction, The Wife, Obstructed, Decadence, Disjunction, Impasse, "Yin supporting yang which is wrong, they part company. Bad prospects for marriage or partnership. " -- D.F. Hook
Judgment:
Legge: Divorcement means there is a lack of communication between the different classes of men. This is unfavorable to the superior man. The great has departed and the inferior has arrived.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Standstill . Evil people do not further the perseverance of the superior man. The great departs; the small approaches.
Blofeld: Stagnation (obstruction) caused by evil doers. Although the omen portends ill for the Superior Man, he must not slacken his righteous persistence. The great and the good decline; the mean approach. [When heaven and earth cease to co-operate, no growth is possible and stagnation results. The trigram (earth), when in intercourse with heaven, has the auspicious meaning of glad acceptance; but, when separated from heaven, it represents weakness and darkness, etc.]
Liu: Stagnation. Stagnation is of no benefit, although not of man's doing. The superior man carries on (according to his principles). The great is departing. The small is arriving.
Ritsema/Karcher: Obstructing it , in-no-way people. Not Harvesting: chun tzu, Trial. the great going, the small coming. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of being blocked or interfered with. It emphasizes that accepting the hindrances that temporarily interrupt the flow of life and thwart communication is the adequate way to handle it. To be in accord with the time, you are told to: accept obstruction!]
Shaughnessy: The wife's non-persons; not beneficial for the gentleman to determine; the great go, the little come.
Cleary (1): Obstruction’s denial of humanity does not make the superior person’s rectitude beneficial. The great goes and the small comes.
Cleary (2): … Does not make the leader’s correctness beneficial, etc.
Wu:Stagnation is destined to cause obstruction of normal course of action. It is not beneficial to the jun zi who takes a persevering stand. The great goes out and the small comes in.
The Image:
Legge: Heaven and earth are estranged -- the image of Divorcement. The superior man preserves his virtue by withdrawing from evil, and refuses both honor and wealth.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Heaven and earth do not unite: the image of Standstill. Thus the superior man falls back upon his inner worth in order to escape the difficulties. He does not permit himself to be honored with revenue.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes heaven and earth cut off from each other. To conserve his stock of virtue, the Superior Man withdraws into himself and thus escapes from the evil influences around him. He declines all temptations of honor and riches. [To understand why the trigrams for heaven and earth arranged in what seems to be their natural positions have this inauspicious significance, see notes on the preceding hexagram, (Harmony).]
Liu: Heaven and earth are not united, symbolizing stagnation. The superior man restrains himself to avoid danger. He seeks neither honor nor wealth.
Ritsema/Karcher: Heaven, earth, not mingling. Obstruction. A chun tzu uses parsimonious actualizing-tao to cast-out heaviness. A chun tzu uses not permitting splendor to use benefits. [Actualize-tao: Ability to follow the course traced by the ongoing process of the cosmos ... Linked with acquire, TE: acquiring that which makes a being become what it is meant to be.]
Cleary (1): When heaven and earth do not commune, there is obstruction. The superior person therefore is parsimonious with power and avoids trouble, not susceptible to elevation by emolument.
Cleary (2): … Leaders … should not prosper on wages.
Wu: … The jun zi practices the virtue of frugality to alleviate difficulties, but does not allow himself to be honored with official salary.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The unfavorable auspice of Divorcement is because heaven and earth are not in communication, and all things consequently fail to unite. High and low, superior and inferior, do not meet in union, and there are no well- regulated states in the kingdom. The lower trigram consists of magnetic lines, and the upper of dynamic lines: darkness is within, clarity without; weakness within, strength without. The lower trigram represents the advancing inferior men, the upper trigram represents the retreating superior men.
Legge: The form of Divorcementis the exact opposite of Harmony, and much of what has been said on the interpretation of that will apply to this. Divorcement is the hexagram of the seventh month when the process of growth has ended and increasing decay may be expected. The trigram of Earth is below and that of Heaven is above, and since it is always proper for the lower trigram to take the initiative, how can Earth take the place of Heaven? As in nature, it is Heaven that originates, not Earth, and in a state the upper classes must take the initiative, and not the lower.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: The time is out of joint -- decadence waxes and virtue is mocked.
The Superior Man refuses to participate in the prevailing disorder.
If the preceding hexagram images the fruitful union of heaven and earth in a holy marriage, this figure shows their Divorcement.
Divorcement: The act, process, or an instance of separating things closely joined -- the state of being separated.
To receive this figure without changing lines suggests that you are separated from truth or virtue, or that for the moment at least, the situation at hand affords no possibility of reconciliation. During such conditions it would be the height of folly to "wed oneself" to the prevailing disorder.
Note however that every line but the third shows some kind of effort to reunite that which has been separated. The first shows an alliance of closely related elements bent on serving the Work; line two depicts a kind of holding action which is necessary to allow a superior element to prevail. The third line identifies recalcitrant forces which prevent union, and four depicts another alliance -- a higher octave of its first line correlate. Line five images nearly complete re-unification and six shows the end of Divorcement. These images suggest that although disunion prevails, the energy in the situation is promoting connection.
As regards the Judgment:
Plato seems to have expressed Confucius' idea perfectly. In The Republic he makes Socrates say that the true philosopher, finding himself in an evil environment, "will not join in the wickedness of his fellows, but neither is he able singly to resist all their fierce natures, and therefore seeing that he would be of no use to the State or to his friends, and reflecting that he would have to throw away his life without doing any good either to himself or others, he holds his peace, and goes his own way ... he is content, if only he can live his own life and be pure from evil or unrighteousness, and depart in peace and good-will, with bright hopes." H.G. Creel -- Confucius and the Chinese Way