大畜大過

Hexagram 26: Great Taming → Hexagram 28: Great Exceeding

大畜
Great Taming
Mountain / Heaven
大過
Great Exceeding
Lake / Wind
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 4, 5, 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 4

六四 童牛之牿。元吉。

tóngthe young
niúbull
zhī...'s
a pen
yuánmost
promising

Six in the fourth place means: The headboard of a young bull. Great good fortune.

Line 5

六五 豶豕之牙。吉。

fénthe gelded
shǐboar
zhī...'s
tusks
promising

Six in the fifth place means: The tusk of a gelded boar. Good fortune.

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 LakeKeeping Still → The Joyous
Lower TrigramHeaven WindThe Creative → The Gentle

Yilin Verse

三羊上山,東至平原。黃龍服箱,南至魯陽。貌其佩囊,執綬車中。行人無功。

Three goats climb the mountain, eastward reaching the plain. The yellow dragon is yoked to a cart, southward to Luyang. He shows off his satchel, grasping his sash within the carriage. The traveler gains nothing.

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

Commentary

Heaven stored within the mountain gives way to the lake submerging the trees — Great Exceeding. Three rams climb the mountain, then travel east to the open plain. A yellow dragon is yoked to a cart and driven south to Luyang. Someone adjusts his pendant pouch, holding the carriage reins. Yet the traveler achieves nothing. The yellow dragon yoked to a cart directly echoes the Shijing's 'Da Dong': 'That bright Cowherd star cannot serve the cart' — heavenly grandeur forced into menial labor, name without substance. Luyang evokes the lord who raised his halberd to push back the setting sun — heroic excess. From Great Taming to Great Exceeding, accumulated power overreaches: dragons in harness, rams on mountains, grand gestures that produce no result. The ridgepole sags under weight it was never meant to bear.

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