One does it again to show others that one is not afraid of them. taoscopy.com
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 2
This line suggests that one should focus on immediate and attainable goals rather than distant or ambitious ones. It advises contentment with modest achievements.
↓ 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.
↓ Critical Mass28
Embrace resilience during times of overwhelming pressure. Acknowledge the burden, make necessary adjustments, and seek support to prevent collapse. Balance is crucial for enduring success.
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 2
Legge: The second line, magnetic, shows its subject passing by her grandfather, and meeting with her grandmother; not attempting anything against her ruler, but meeting her as her minister. There will be no error.
Wilhelm/Baynes: She passes by her ancestor and meets her ancestress. He does not reach his prince and meets the official. No blame.
Blofeld: Passing by the spirit tablets of his ancestors, he encountered the ghost of (or else the tablet of) his late mother. He did not get as far as the Prince but encountered one of the ministers -- no error!
Liu: He passes over his deceased grandfather and meets his deceased grandmother. He does not reach the king but meets an official. No blame.
Ritsema/Karcher: Exceeding one's grandfather. Meeting one's grandmother. Not extending-to one's chief. Meeting one's servant. Without fault.
Shaughnessy: Surpassing his grandfather, meeting his grandmother: Not reaching his lord, meeting his servant; there is no trouble.
Cleary (1): Passing the grandfather, you meet the mother; not reaching the lord, you meet the retainer. No fault.
Cleary (2): Going past the grandfather, etc. ... you meet the administrator, etc.
Wu: He passes by his grandfather and meets with his grandmother. He does not reach the ruler, but meets with the minister. No error.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: A minister should not overpass the ruler. Wilhelm/Baynes: The official should not wish to surpass the prince. Blofeld: He did not reach the Prince because he was unable to get by the minister. [We fail, but through no fault of ours, to reach as high as we'd hoped.] Ritsema/Karcher: Not extending to one's chief. A servant not permitted Exceeding indeed. Cleary (2): The administrator is not to be surpassed. Wu: Because the minister should not be bypassed.
Legge: The second line is magnetic but in her proper central place. Her correlate is the magnetic fifth-line ruler of the hexagram. The dynamic lines separating them represent her father and grandfather, but she passes by them to meet with her grandmother in line five. She moves toward the grandmother-ruler not as an enemy, but with the loyal humility of a proper minister.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man fails to meet the chief executive, but goes about his duties among other officials. He does not force his way into the limelight.
Wing: Use whatever common affiliations you have with others to bring you into a secure position. No matter what kind of connection you make, it is the connection itself that is important. Hold as closely as possible, however, to traditional methods.
Editor: Blofeld, Liu, Ritsema/Karcher (and Wilhelm by implication) all state that the "grandfather" and "grandmother" are deceased ancestors. Ritsema/Karcher translate "grandmother" as: "Second ancestor generation ... venerated as source of her many descendants." Psychologically, we can assume that the "ancestral grandmother" relates to a primal Yin archetype. Here, a female (Eros principle) passes by two males (logos principle) to unite (correctly in this instance) with another yin line -- which also rules the hexagram. Psychologically, the image suggests the subordination of intellect to a deeper source of wisdom within the psyche. A fair paraphrase of the Confucian commentary might be: "Don't exceed your authority." Perhaps a warning to the ego not to impose its preconceived ideas on the unusual situation portrayed by this line. If this is the only changing line, the corresponding line in the new hexagram, 32 – Consistency, is: Remorse disappears . The relationship between correlate lines in these two hexagrams helps explain each other. Siu’s paraphrase in the latter case is often useful: The man endures by keeping his force of character within the bounds of available power.
The utterances of the heart -- unlike those of the discriminating intellect -- always relate to the whole. The heartstrings sing like an Aeolian harp only to the gentle breath of a premonitory mood, which does not drown the song but listens. Jung -- The Symbolic Life
A. The intellect defers to the wisdom of the heart.
B. Go with your intuition.
C. Don't get ahead of yourself.
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.
28 Critical Mass
Other titles: Preponderance of the Great, The Symbol of Great Passing, Excess, Great Excess, The Passing of Greatness, Great Surpassing, Great Gains, Experience, Greater than Great, Greatness in Excess, Dominance by the Mighty, The Passing of Greatness, Excess of the Great, Law of Karma
Judgment
Legge:Critical Mass depicts a weak beam. Under such conditions it is advantageous to move in any direction whatever. Success is indicated.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Preponderance of the Great. The ridgepole sags to the breaking point. It furthers one to have somewhere to go. Success.
Blofeld:Excess! The ridgepole sags. It is favorable to have some goal (or destination) in view. Success! [A glance at the hexagram will show that it is too heavy in the middle and too weak at the ends. A number of firm lines is generally auspicious, but there can be too much of a good thing!]
Liu: Great Excess. The ridgepole is crooked. It benefits to go anywhere. Success.
Ritsema/Karcher:Great Exceeding, the ridgepole sagging. Harvesting; possessing directed going. Growing. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of your connection to a ruling principle. It emphasizes that pushing the guiding idea beyond ordinary limits and accepting the results is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy: Great Surpassing: The ridgepole bows upward; beneficial to have someplace to go; receipt.
Cleary (1): When the great is excessive, the ridgepole bends. It is good to go somewhere; that is developmental. [When the ridgepole snaps, the whole house falls down. In the same way, practitioners of the Tao who promote yang too much, who do not know when enough is enough, who can be great but cannot be small, suffer damage to their spiritual house.]
Cleary (2): When greatness passes, the ridgepole bends. It is beneficial to have somewhere to go, for you will succeed.
Wu:Excess of the Great indicates a beam that warps. It will be advantageous to have undertakings. It will be pervasive.
The Image
Legge: The image of trees beneath a marsh forms Critical Mass. The superior man, in accordance with this, fearlessly stands alone, and stays retired from the world without regret.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The lake rises above the trees: the image of Preponderance of the Great. Thus the superior man, when he stands alone, is unconcerned, and if he has to renounce the world, he is undaunted.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes a forest submerged in a great body of water. The Superior Man, though standing alone, is free from fear; he feels no discontent in withdrawing from the world. [This is suggested by the component trigrams. Water is necessary for the nourishment of the trees, but too much of it can cause serious damage.]
Liu: The lake rising over the trees symbolizes Great Excess. The superior man, when isolated, is undisturbed. If he has to retreat from society, he feels no regret.
Ritsema/Karcher: Marsh submerging wood. Great Exceeding. A chun tzu uses solitary establishing not to fear. (A chun tzu uses) retiring-from the age without melancholy.
Cleary (1): Moisture destroys wood in excess. Thus superior people stand alone without fear, and leave society without distress.
Cleary (2): Moisture destroys wood. Developed people, etc. [Only when sustained by the power to stand alone without fear and avoid society without distress can learning be firmly rooted and development have a proper basis; then it is possible to refine and support the mediocre.]
Wu: Marsh covers over wood; This is Excess of the Great. Thus the jun zi stands alone without fear and withdraws from the world without melancholy.
CONFUCIAN COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Excess is weakly supported at either end, with weakness in both the lowest and topmost lines. The dynamic lines are in excess, but two of them are in the central positions. The trigrams of Flexibility and Satisfaction indicate that there will be advantage in moving in any direction whatever -- there will be success. Great indeed is the work to be done during this extraordinary time.
Legge: Extraordinary times require extraordinary skill in their management. The figure shows two magnetic lines at top and bottom, with four dynamic lines between them -- giving the image of a great beam unable to sustain its own weight. Lines two and five are both dynamic and central however, and from this and the attributes of the component trigrams a good auspice is obtained.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: A stressful situation is best managed with a comprehensive strategy. (Or: in the chess game of life, one succeeds by planning several moves in advance.)
The Superior Man serves The Work by going his own way, regardless of public opinion.
Wilhelm titles this hexagram Preponderance of the Great. I prefer R.L. Wing's paraphrase of Critical Massas more evocative of the figure's meaning in modern terminology.
In Critical Mass four dynamic lines lurk inside of the hexagram, weakly contained at top and bottom by two magnetic lines. This energetic concentration could explode in an unpredictable release of force, and hence the Judgment tells us to move now (remember: non-action is also action) to avoid unwanted consequences. (Often the outcome is predictable – be prepared to just walk away if and when that is your best move.)
Legge’s translation of the Judgment is:
"...It is advantageous to move in any direction whatever. "
This is a different message than Wilhelm's:
"...It furthers one to have somewhere to go."
Legge’s version implies an almost hysterical flight from danger while Wilhelm's rendition suggests prior intention and planning. The latter interpretation is definitely what is meant here, as confirmed by Cleary’s Buddhist commentary:
When the transformative path is flourishing, contaminations easily arise; it is best to set up guidelines and regulations. When meditation work is advanced, ignorance is about to dissolve; it is best to exercise the mind skillfully.
Coupled with Cleary’s translation of the Image as: “Developed people stand alone without fear, avoid society without distress,” the idea is that one should follow one's best intuition and ignore popular illusions, political correctness or inner fears. (Psychologically: conventional thinking, socially conditioned reflexes, knee-jerk responses, etc.). During a time of Critical Mass, pay close attention to direction from the Self to preserve the Work. This is not the time to follow the crowd. Sometimes this can mean that you are obliged to go it alone – one of the Work’s frequent tests (Cf. line 6):
The Gulf is something that has to be leaped, and leaped alone, stripped of all hindering burdens, in faith ... It is thus one of the crisis points of spiritual progress because of the great temptation to turn back from the unknown to the apparent safety of known things, and to succumb to this temptation is to lose all the fruits of past endeavor. G. Knight -- A Practical Guide to Kabbalistic Symbolism
SUGGESTIONS FOR MEDITATION
Compare the Judgment and Image of this hexagram with those of hexagram number 32, Consistency.
Anthony: We must regain modesty through the effort to rid ourself of strong elements that cause us to press forward. The strong elements may exist in someone else, causing them to assault us with their fear, mistrust or doubt. Strong refers to impetuous movement to resolve what is ambiguous … We can meet the challenge by remaining detached and letting things go through their changes … To be truly rich is to remain modest; to be truly powerful is to remain reticent.