# Hexagram 62: Small Preponderance

Canonical page: https://thefreeiching.com/library/62
Last updated: 2026-10-07

```
━━━  ━━━
━━━  ━━━
━━━━━━━
━━━━━━━
━━━  ━━━
━━━  ━━━
```

- **Upper trigram:** [Zhen 震](https://thefreeiching.com/trigrams/zhen), Thunder, the arousing, movement
- **Lower trigram:** [Gen 艮](https://thefreeiching.com/trigrams/gen), Mountain, keeping still
- **Lines, bottom to top:** 001100 (1 = solid yang, 0 = broken yin)

## Contemporary judgment

Small preponderance. Attend to small matters. This is not a moment for grand gestures; modest care applied to ordinary things is what produces real progress. The big leaps, if attempted now, overshoot their ground. Keep the scale of action appropriate to the moment.

## Image

Thunder on the mountain. The superior person, in conduct, gives preeminence to reverence; in mourning, to grief; in expenditure, to economy.

## Counsel

Do small, correct things with care. Be punctual, be courteous, complete the minor commitments you have made. The cumulative effect of these attentions is enormous. Resist the temptation to prove yourself through a bold stroke; this moment rewards the opposite.

## The six lines

*Numbered from the bottom upward. These line texts are read when that line is changing in a cast.*

### Line 1

> A six at the beginning means:
> The bird comes through flying into misfortune.

### Line 2

> A six in the second place means:
> She passes by her ancestor and meets the ancestress.
> He does not reach his prince and meets the official.
> No blame.

### Line 3

> A nine in the third place means:
> If one is not extraordinarily careful,
> someone may come from behind and strike one.
> Misfortune!

### Line 4

> A nine in the fourth place means:
> No blame. Without passing by, he meets him.
> To go there brings danger. One must be on guard.
> Do not act. Be lastingly persevering.

### Line 5

> A six in the fifth place means:
> Dense clouds, no rain from our western region.
> The prince shoots and hits the one in the cave.

### Line 6

> A six at the top means:
> Without meeting them, he passes them by.
> The flying bird leaves him. Misfortune!
> This means misfortune and harm.

## Related hexagrams

- **Nuclear (lines 2 to 5):** [28 Great Preponderance](https://thefreeiching.com/library/28)
- **Inverse (turned upside down):** itself
- **Opposite (every line flipped):** [61 Inner Truth](https://thefreeiching.com/library/61)

## If one line changes

| Changing line | Relating hexagram |
| --- | --- |
| Line 1 | [55 Abundance](https://thefreeiching.com/library/55) |
| Line 2 | [32 Duration](https://thefreeiching.com/library/32) |
| Line 3 | [16 Enthusiasm](https://thefreeiching.com/library/16) |
| Line 4 | [15 Modesty](https://thefreeiching.com/library/15) |
| Line 5 | [31 Influence](https://thefreeiching.com/library/31) |
| Line 6 | [56 The Wanderer](https://thefreeiching.com/library/56) |

Previous: [61 Inner Truth](https://thefreeiching.com/library/61). Next: [63 After Completion](https://thefreeiching.com/library/63). [All sixty-four hexagrams](https://thefreeiching.com/library).

*The judgment, image and counsel are original contemporary paraphrases written for The Free I Ching. The line text is the CC0 translation from [jesshewitt/i-ching](https://github.com/jesshewitt/i-ching), derived from Richard Wilhelm's 1924 German edition.*

## Cite this page

The Free I Ching. "Hexagram 62: Small Preponderance." https://thefreeiching.com/library/62 (updated 2026-10-07).

*The I Ching is a tool for reflection, not a prediction. Nothing here forecasts events or replaces professional advice. Short quotations with a link back are welcome. Please do not republish a page in full. The open data files at [/data](https://thefreeiching.com/data) are licensed CC BY 4.0.*

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Source: The Free I Ching (https://thefreeiching.com/library/62). The I Ching is a tool for reflection, not a prediction. Nothing here forecasts events or replaces professional advice.