大畜

Hexagram 26: Great Taming → Hexagram 23: Splitting Apart

大畜
Great Taming
Mountain / Heaven
Splitting Apart
Earth / Mountain
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 6).

Line 1

初九 有厲。利已。

yǒuthis
hardship
worthwhile
to desist

Nine at the beginning means: Danger is at hand. It furthers one to desist.

Line 2

九二 輿說輹。

輿the carriage
shuōis relieved
its axle strut

Nine in the second place means: The axletrees are taken from the wagon.

Line 6

上九 何天之衢。亨。

what
tiānheaven
zhī...'s
way
hēngthrough fulfillment

Nine at the top means: One attains the way of heaven. Success.

Trigram Changes

Upper TrigramMountain EarthKeeping Still → The Receptive
Lower TrigramHeaven MountainThe Creative → Keeping Still

Yilin Verse

范子妙材,戮辱傷膚。然後相國,封為應侯。

Fierce fire tempers gold to a deeper red; cold iron endures a thousand hammer-blows to become a sharp blade. A body covered in scars — robes now changed; one morning, made chancellor, standing in the autumn wind.

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

Commentary

Heaven stored within the mountain crumbles as the mountain rests upon earth — Splitting Apart. The original verse reads: 'Fan Ju, a man of marvelous talent, was humiliated and his body scarred. Afterward he became chief minister and was enfeoffed as the Marquis of Ying.' Fan Ju served the state of Wei until false accusations led to a savage beating — wrapped in a mat and thrown into a latrine. He escaped to Qin under a false name, rose through sheer brilliance to become Prime Minister, and was enfeoffed at Ying. From Great Taming to Splitting Apart, the mountain's stored heaven is the talent buried under layers of humiliation. Splitting Apart strips everything away — status, flesh, dignity — until only the bedrock of ability remains, ready to rebuild.

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