Hexagram 4 蒙 changing to hexagram 62 小過
Changing lines (counted from the bottom): 2, 3, 4, 6.
What to read
Four changing lines: read the two unchanged lines of the resulting hexagram; the lower one is the main one. (Rule set out by Zhu Xi in the Yixue qimeng.)
Hexagram 62 小過, line 1
飛鳥以凶。
The first line, divided, suggests (the idea of) a bird flying, (and ascending) till the issue is evil.
Hexagram 62 小過, line 5
密雲不雨，自我西郊，公弋取彼在穴。
The fifth line, divided, (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.
The two hexagrams
Hexagram 4 蒙 — judgment
亨。匪我求童蒙，童蒙求我。初筮告，再三瀆，瀆則不告。利貞。
Măng (indicates that in the case which it presupposes) there will be progress and success. I do not (go and) seek the youthful and inexperienced, but he comes and seeks me. When he shows (the sincerity that marks) the first recourse to divination, I instruct him. If he apply a second and third time, that is troublesome; and I do not instruct the troublesome. There will be advantage in being firm and correct.
Hexagram 62 小過 — judgment
亨。利貞。可小事，不可大事。飛鳥遺之音，不宜上宜下，大吉。
Hsiâo Kwo indicates that (in the circumstances which it implies) there will be progress and attainment. But it will be advantageous to be firm and correct. (What the name denotes) may be done in small affairs, but not in great affairs. (It is like) the notes that come down from a bird on the wing;—to descend is better than to ascend. There will (in this way) be great good fortune.
The changing lines of hexagram 4
| Line | Chinese | Legge |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | 包蒙吉，納婦吉，子克家。 | The second line, undivided, (shows its subject) exercising forbearance with the ignorant, in which there will be good fortune; and admitting (even the goodness of women, which will also be fortunate. (He may be described also as) a son able to (sustain the burden of) his family. |
| 3 | 勿用取女，見金夫，不有躬，无攸利。 | The third line, divided, (seems to say) that one should not marry a woman whose emblem it might be, for that, when she sees a man of wealth, she will not keep her person from him, and in no wise will advantage come from her. |
| 4 | 困蒙，吝。 | The fourth line, divided, (shows its subject as if) bound in chains of ignorance. There will be occasion for regret. |
| 6 | 擊蒙，不利為寇，利禦寇。 | In the topmost line, undivided, we see one smiting the ignorant (youth). But no advantage will come from doing him an injury. Advantage would come from warding off injury from him. |
English: James Legge (1882), public domain. Chinese: Zhou Yi.
Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0); Chinese Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.