Transformation · lines 2, 3, 4, and 5
Success in Small Matters becomes Water
What this change means
Every line but the outer two moves, and both trigrams become Water: one pit over another, danger above and below. The reading weighs the still lines of 29 Water. Its first line says you won't get results if you keep charging ahead recklessly without watching outside circumstances. Its top line adds that trying to escape the obstacles the wrong way, with the wrong people, only tangles you further. The hexagram as a whole compares you to a stream that gets past obstacles by keeping its course, and warns that fear can leave you stuck. The starting situation already asked you to stay small and careful; now that caution meets a run of difficulties. Keep moving, but slowly and with attention. Don't take shortcuts or rely on unreliable people. Flow around each obstacle as it comes rather than trying to jump it.
What to read, in order
Marked ● is what Zhu Xi's tradition puts at the center for this number of moving lines.
- Line 1 of 29 Water, which stays still
You won't get results if you keep acting recklessly in the direction you're going, without watching outside circumstances.
Pit upon pit. Entering the bottom of the pit. Misfortune.
- Line 6 of 29 Water, which stays still
Trying to escape the obstacles, you get more tangled if you keep doing things the wrong way and side with the wrong people.
Bound with braided cords, set among thorn thickets; three years and no way out. Misfortune.
- 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.
- Line 2 of 62 Success in Small Matters
Recognizing your limitations right now and focusing on small achievements will bear fruit.
Passes the grandfather and meets the grandmother; does not reach the lord and meets the minister. No fault.
- Line 3 of 62 Success in Small Matters
Carelessness and excess bring trouble.
Unless one goes beyond in guarding oneself, someone following will do harm. Misfortune.
- Line 4 of 62 Success in Small Matters
It's not the time to act, but it is the time to stand firm, without straying from your purposes, until the time to act arrives.
No fault. Without going beyond, it meets it. Going is dangerous: be on guard. Do not act with lasting constancy.
- Line 5 of 62 Success in Small Matters
Your humility will help you find people who will act on your behalf.
Thick clouds, yet no rain, out of our western fields. The prince shoots a corded arrow and takes what is in the cave.
- The judgment of 29 Water
Just as a stream moves through obstacles and gets past them, following its course without stagnating, you're at a time when obstacles will come one after another, but you'll get past them if you can keep moving. Letting fear paralyze you will only leave you stuck.
There is sincere trust. Only the heart gets through. Going earns esteem.
The trigrams
The way back
29 Water → 62 Success in Small Matterslines 2, 3, 4, and 5
Other transformations of Success in Small Matters
- 19Fleeting Successlines 1, 2, 3, and 4
- 58Inner Peacelines 1, 2, 3, and 5
- 5Inactionlines 1, 2, 4, and 5
- 3Initial Obstacleslines 1, 3, 4, and 5
- 38Oppositeslines 1, 2, 3, and 6
- 26Great Achievementslines 1, 2, 4, and 6
- 27Nourishmentlines 1, 3, 4, and 6
- 4Immaturitylines 2, 3, 4, and 6
- 1Activitylines 1, 2, 5, and 6
- 25Innocencelines 1, 3, 5, and 6
- 6Conflictlines 2, 3, 5, and 6
- 37The Tribelines 1, 4, 5, and 6
- 57Gentlenesslines 2, 4, 5, and 6
- 20Observinglines 3, 4, 5, and 6
Make your own cast
The answer changes with the question. Toss the coins and see which lines move for you.