Transformation · lines 4 and 5
Held Back becomes Success in Small Matters
What this change means
Thunder over the mountain: when the fourth and fifth lines move, the danger above turns into a distant rumble, and Held Back becomes 62 Success in Small Matters. The fifth line leads. You're in great hardship, but your conviction holds, and friends come because of it. The fourth line insists you can't manage alone, so return to firmer ground and look for like-minded support. Together they speak of help gathering around a steady person. The resulting hexagram puts limits on what that help is for. This isn't a time for great feats; it's a time for small achievements. Trying to go beyond your present means and resources tends to waste the effort. So accept the support, and use it for modest, well-chosen steps. Don't turn the arrival of friends into an excuse to overreach. Small things done well are what this moment can actually hold.
What to read, in order
Marked ● is what Zhu Xi's tradition puts at the center for this number of moving lines.
- Line 5 of 39 Held Back
You have great conviction and clear goals, which let you keep going despite the obstacles. Your inner strength will draw help to you.
Great hardship: friends arrive.
- Line 4 of 39 Held Back
You won't get past the obstacles on your own. It's time to return to more stable conditions and look for support from like-minded people; with their help you'll succeed.
Going: hardship. Coming: joined with others.
- The judgment of 39 Held Back
Every time you advance, something blocks you, forcing you to stop, step back, and look for help from like-minded people who give you their support. That way you'll get past the obstacles one by one until the final victory.
The southwest is favorable; the northeast is not. It is favorable to see the great person. Constancy brings good fortune.
- The judgment of 62 Success in Small Matters
This isn't a time for great things; it's a time for small achievements. Recognizing that will help you live in step with the moment. Trying to go beyond your present means and resources will lead you astray and waste your efforts.
Success. Constancy is favorable. Small things can be done, not great ones. The flying bird leaves its call behind: it is not fitting to rise, it is fitting to descend. Great good fortune.
The trigrams
The way back
62 Success in Small Matters → 39 Held Backlines 4 and 5
Other transformations of Held Back
- 5Inactionlines 1 and 2
- 3Initial Obstacleslines 1 and 3
- 29Waterlines 2 and 3
- 49Renewallines 1 and 4
- 28Excesseslines 2 and 4
- 45Meetinglines 3 and 4
- 36Darknesslines 1 and 5
- 46Going Uplines 2 and 5
- 2Passivitylines 3 and 5
- 37The Tribelines 1 and 6
- 57Gentlenesslines 2 and 6
- 20Observinglines 3 and 6
- 33Leaving Behindlines 4 and 6
- 52Abidinglines 5 and 6
Make your own cast
The answer changes with the question. Toss the coins and see which lines move for you.