大畜

Hexagram 20: Contemplation → Hexagram 26: Great Taming

Contemplation
Wind / Earth
大畜
Great Taming
Mountain / Heaven
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 5).

Line 1

初六 童觀。小人无咎。君子吝。

tóngchild's
guānperspective
xiǎofor little
rénpeople
no
jiùblame
jūnbut for a noble
young one
lìnan embarrassment

Six at the beginning means: Boy like contemplation. For an inferior man, no blame. For a superior man, humiliation.

Line 2

六二 闚觀。利女貞。

kuīa pry
guānperspective
reward
a young lady
zhēnpersistence

Six in the second place means: Contemplation through the crack of the door. Furthering for the perseverance of a woman.

Line 3

六三 觀我生進退。

guānperceiving
our
shēnglives
jìnas
退tuìand

Six in the third place means: Contemplation of my life Decides the choice Between advance and retreat.

Line 5

九五 觀我生。君子无咎。

guānperceiving
our
shēnglives
jūna noble
young one
avoids
jiùblame

Nine in the fifth place means: Contemplation of my life. The superior man is without blame.

Trigram Changes

Upper TrigramWind MountainThe Gentle → Keeping Still
Lower TrigramEarth HeavenThe Receptive → The Creative

Yilin Verse

喜怒不時,雪霜為災;稼穡無功,后稷飢憂。

Wrath and favor come out of season, frost and snow bring calamity; the crops are sown in vain -- even Houji knows hunger and worry.

— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE

Commentary

Wind over earth watches the sky rage without pattern. Joy and anger arrive out of season; frost and snow fall as disasters upon the crops. Agriculture yields nothing, and even Lord Millet — Hou Ji, ancestor of the Zhou people and minister of agriculture under Emperor Shun — suffers hunger and worry. When the founder of Chinese farming cannot feed himself, the disruption of natural order is absolute. Mountain over heaven forms Great Taming, which stores heaven's power within the mountain. From Contemplation to Great Taming, the paradox is severe: the hexagram of accumulated wisdom and stored strength meets a world where the most fundamental knowledge — when to plant, when to harvest — has been rendered useless by chaotic weather.

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