大畜

Hexagram 26: Great Taming → Hexagram 32: Duration

大畜
Great Taming
Mountain / Heaven
Duration
Thunder / Wind
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 4, 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 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 ThunderKeeping Still → The Arousing
Lower TrigramHeaven WindThe Creative → The Gentle

Yilin Verse

牛驥同堂,郭氏以亡。國破為墟,君奔走逃。

Oxen and thoroughbreds share one stable; the Guo state perishes thereby. The realm is shattered to ruins; the lord flees in headlong flight.

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

Commentary

Heaven stored within the mountain becomes thunder and wind — Duration. When the thoroughbred ox and the common nag share the same stable, the Guo state perishes. The country is destroyed and reduced to ruins; the ruler flees in desperate escape. The proverb 'ox and steed in one stall' (牛驥同堂) warns against failing to distinguish between the worthy and the worthless — when no distinction is made, the state collapses. The Guo state's fall is traditionally attributed to its ruler's inability to discriminate between counsel and flattery. From Great Taming to Duration, the mountain's stored heaven becomes the enduring pattern of wind and thunder. But duration without discernment is mere persistence in error. The verse warns: accumulation must include the wisdom to sort what is stored, or the storeroom itself rots.

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