Hsiao Kuo / Preponderance of the Small

above: Ch^ en The Arousing, Thunder
below: K^ en Keeping Still, Mountain

Hsiao 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.

Overall Meaning

Smal excess, the symbol of minor preponderance

The name Hsiao Kwo is explained both by reference to the lines of the hexagram, and to the meaning of the characters. The explanation from the lines appears immediately on comparing them with those of Ta Kwo, the 28th hexagram. There the first and sixth lines are divided, and between are four undivided lines; here the third and fourth lines are divided, and outside each of them are two undivided lines. The undivided or yang lines are great, the divided or yin lines are called small. In Hsiao Kwo the divided or small lines predominate. But this peculiar structure of the figure could be of no interest to the student, if it were not for the meaning of the name, which is 'small excesses' or 'exceeding in what is small'. The author, accepted by us as King Wan, had in his mind our distinction of essentials and non- essentials. Is it ever good to deviate from what is recognized as the established course of procedure? The reply is - never in the matter of right; but in what is conventional and ceremonial - in what is nonessential - the deviation may be made, and will be productive of good. The form may be given up, but not the substance. But the thing must be done very carefully, - humbly and reverently, and in small matters.

The symbolism of the bird is rather obscure. The whole of it is intended to teach humility. It is better for the bird to descend, keeping near to where it can perch and rest, than to hold on ascending into the homeless regions of the air.