Hexagram 62 小過 changing to hexagram 37 家人
Changing lines (counted from the bottom): 1, 4, 5, 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 37 家人, line 2
无攸遂，在中饋，貞吉。
The second line, divided, shows its subject taking nothing on herself, but in her central place attending to the preparation of the food. Through her firm correctness there will be good fortune.
Hexagram 37 家人, line 3
家人嗃嗃，悔厲吉；婦子嘻嘻，終吝。
The third line, undivided, shows its subject (treating) the members of the household with stern severity. There will be occasion for repentance, there will be peril, (but) there will (also) be good fortune. If the wife and children were to be smirking and chattering, in the end there would be occasion for regret.
The two hexagrams
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.
Hexagram 37 家人 — judgment
利女貞。
For (the realisation of what is taught in) Kiâ Zăn, (or for the regulation of the family), what is most advantageous is that the wife be firm and correct.
The changing lines of hexagram 62
| Line | Chinese | Legge |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 飛鳥以凶。 | The first line, divided, suggests (the idea of) a bird flying, (and ascending) till the issue is evil. |
| 4 | 无咎，弗過遇之。往厲必戒，勿用永貞。 | The fourth line, undivided, shows its subject falling into no error, but meeting (the exigency of his situation), without exceeding (in his natural course). If he go forward, there will be peril, and he must be cautious. There is no occasion to be using firmness perpetually. |
| 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. |
| 6 | 弗遇過之，飛鳥離之，凶，是謂災眚。 | The sixth line, divided, shows its subject not meeting (the exigency of his situation), and exceeding (his proper course). (It suggests the idea of) a bird flying far aloft. There will be evil. The case is what is called one of calamity and selfproduced injury. |
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.