62: Hsiao Kuo

This hexagram shows four yin lines enclosing two yang lines at the center — a configuration that suggests the small and yielding overwhelming what is firm and substantial. The structure itself counsels restraint: when minor elements predominate, minor actions succeed where major ones fail. The image of the flying bird that cannot sustain its flight captures the essential teaching. There are times when the very attempt to rise high or act boldly works against the natural tendency of the moment. What appears to be limitation reveals itself as appropriate response to conditions. This is not a call to permanent smallness but to temporary modesty. The preponderance of the small creates its own opportunities — attention to detail, care in execution, responsiveness to immediate needs. These humble virtues may accomplish what grand gestures cannot. The wise person recognizes when the moment favors precision over power, adjustment over assertion. In such times, what seems like constraint becomes the very means of progress.