Xiao Guo to Qian (Modesty): ask small, not large

Date not recorded · A friend of Takashima going to borrow money · 中文版

The cast

Hexagram 62 Xiǎo Guò (Small Exceeding), line 4 moving, changing to Hexagram 15 Qiān (Modesty).

Original text

友人某來。請占借貸錢財。筮得小過之謙。爻辭曰。九四无咎。弗過遇之。往厲必戒。勿用永貞。斷曰。四處震之始。震爲動。動則思欲前往。自四往上。必先過五。爻曰弗過。當自有禮遇。禮遇即在五也。遇則反危。必當戒愼。今占借貸。得小過四爻。知足下爲借貸而前往。四與五比。不可過也。弗過於五。必有相遇於五也。五爻曰密雲不雨。則大惠必難望矣。又曰弋取在穴。則小惠當必得也。若越五而往。不特无獲。且致危厲。所當自戒。

In plain words

A friend of Takashima came to ask about borrowing money. The cast gave Xiao Guo with its fourth line moving, changing into Qian (Modesty). The line reads: "Nine in the fourth place: no fault. He meets him without passing him by. Going on is dangerous; he must be on guard. Do not persist for ever."

Takashima's judgment: the fourth line is at the start of Zhen, movement, and movement makes one want to go forward. Going up from the fourth, one must first pass the fifth. The line says "without passing him by": there will be a courteous reception, and it lies with the fifth line. Going past him would be dangerous instead; one must be careful.

Asking about a loan and drawing the fourth line of Xiao Guo shows that you are setting out to borrow. The fourth and fifth are neighbours; do not go past. If you do not go beyond the fifth, you will surely find something with him. The fifth line says "dense clouds but no rain", so a large favour is not to be hoped for; it also says "he shoots and takes it in the cave", so a small favour will surely be granted. If you go past the fifth, you will not only get nothing but put yourself in danger. Be on your guard.

How Takashima read it

Only one line text is read: with one moving line, the fourth line of Xiao Guo is read, with the fifth line's text brought in.
The line's adjacency: the fourth and fifth are neighbours, so the fifth is the one to ask; "without passing him by" means do not go over his head to someone else.
The neighbouring line sets the scale: the fifth's "dense clouds, no rain" is a large favour unlikely, "shooting and taking it in the cave" a small one within reach, so the loan should be modest.
The hexagram, Small Exceeding, is good for small things and not for great ones, which fits the judgment.

About the outcome

The text does not say how much the friend managed to borrow. The advice is practical: go to the nearest, most suitable person, and ask for an amount they can actually give.

Applying it to your situation

"Meeting him without passing him by": the right person is close at hand; there is no need to look further. In what you are asking help for, have you gone to the wrong person, or asked for more than they can give?

Original: Takashima Kaemon, Takashima Ekidan (expanded edition), recorded by Yanagida Ikusaku, Chinese text by Wang Zhiben, 1901. Translation, notes and reflection by this site.

These are historical records kept by the diviner himself. The outcomes are his own account; this site uses them to study how the lines were read, not as evidence that divination predicts events.

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