Great Possession
- In Chinese
- 大有 dàyǒu
- Above
- The Clinging, fire
- Below
- The Creative, heaven
Did you get this hexagram?
Mark your changing lines and keep your cast.
Mark my castWhat hexagram 14 means
Hexagram 14 is fire above heaven. Five whole lines stand around a single broken line in the fifth place, and the name speaks of having much. Legge renders it “Great Havings”.
The judgment is short and favorable. Legge has “there will be great progress and success”, and Wilhelm has “Supreme success.”
Legge names the risk that comes with abundance. He writes that “The danger threatening such a condition arises from the pride which it is likely to engender”, and then adds “But everything here is against that issue”.
The judgment and the image
The judgment
大有元亨。
POSSESSION IN GREAT MEASURE. Supreme success.
success things flow and come through
The image
火在天上，《大有》。君子以遏惡揚善，順天休命。
Fire in heaven above: The image of POSSESSION IN GREAT MEASURE. Thus the superior man curbs evil and furthers good, And thereby obeys the benevolent will of heaven.
What the commentaries say
The commentary on the judgment explains the name from the shape of the figure. In it “the weak (line) has the place of honour, is grandly central, and (the strong lines) above and below respond to it”.
The same commentary describes the two trigrams by their qualities. They are “strength and vigour with elegance and brightness”.
It then gives the reason for the success. The ruling line “responds to (the ruling line in the symbol of) heaven”, and so the action of the figure is “at the proper times”.
The image is fire with heaven beneath it. From it the commentary draws a rule of conduct. The superior man “represses what is evil and gives distinction to what is good”.
Wilhelm gives the same rule and says what it serves. The superior man “curbs evil and furthers good”, and in doing so he “obeys the benevolent will of heaven”.
Legge says what kind of time the name describes. In a kingdom it is “a state of prosperity and abundance”.
Legge also explains why pride does not take hold here. The reason is “the place of honour occupied by a weak line, so that its subject will be humble”, while the other lines, strong as they are, “will act in obedient sympathy”.
The six lines
First line
无交害，匪咎、艱則无咎。
No relationship with what is harmful; There is no blame in this. If one remains conscious of difficulty, One remains without blame.
no blame there is no mistake in it
The first line stands clear of harm. The commentary says it “shows no approach to what is injurious”. The text still asks for care, which Legge gives as “a realisation of the difficulty” and Wilhelm as staying “conscious of difficulty”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 50, The Cauldron
Second line
大車以載，有攸往，无咎。
A big wagon for loading. One may undertake something. No blame.
no blame there is no mistake in it
The picture is a loaded wagon that can go anywhere without error. The commentary reads the load as “the (virtue) accumulated (in the subject of the line)”. Legge adds that this strong line answers to the fifth and uses its strength “in subordination to his humility”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 30, The Clinging
Third line
公用亨于天子，小人弗克。
A prince offers it to the Son of Heaven. A petty man cannot do this.
success things flow and come through
A prince brings his offerings to the one above him. Legge explains the figure by the place, since “The topmost line of the lower trigram is the proper place for a feudal lord”. He adds that the subject of the line “will humbly serve the condescending ruler in line 5”. The warning is for the small man, who “having the place without the virtue, would give himself airs”. The commentary on the line is harsher and says that such a man “does (himself) harm”. Wilhelm has “A petty man cannot do this.”
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 38, Opposition
Fourth line
匪其彭，无咎。
He makes a difference Between himself and his neighbor. No blame.
no blame there is no mistake in it
This line holds much and keeps it in check. Its subject is “keeping his great resources under restraint”, and the commentary credits his judgment, since “his wisdom discriminates clearly (what he ought to do)”. Legge finds the reason in the place, where “the strength is tempered by the position”. Wilhelm words the line differently, as one who “makes a difference Between himself and his neighbor”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 26, Great Taming
Fifth line
厥孚交如，威如吉。
He whose truth is accessible, yet dignified, Has good fortune.
good fortune it goes well
This is the only broken line, and Legge calls it “the ruler of the figure”. Its sincerity is answered by the other lines, and the commentary says it serves “to stir and call out what is in their minds”. Mildness alone is not enough. Legge writes that “a ruler must not be without an awe-inspiring majesty”. The commentary gives the reason, that without it the others “might (otherwise) feel too easy, and make no preparation (to serve him)”. It is one of the two lines with good fortune.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 1, The Creative
Sixth line
自天祐之，吉无不利。
He is blessed by heaven. Good fortune. Nothing that does not further.
good fortune it goes wellnothing that does not further everything is favorable
The top line receives “help accorded to him from Heaven”, and the text adds good fortune and “advantage in every respect”. Legge ties it to the line below. He writes that “Even the topmost line takes its character from 5”, that “The strength of its subject is still tempered”, and that “Heaven gives its approval”. The commentary on the line says the same of its good fortune, which “arises from the help of Heaven”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 34, Great Power
Hexagram 14 unchanging
If none of your six lines is moving, you read the hexagram as a whole. That is the judgment and the image above, without any of the line texts.
The book gives the reason. Lines that do not move are “non-moving lines, which serve only as structural matter in the hexagram, without intrinsic meaning of their own”.
For hexagram 14 unchanging, what remains is the judgment of great progress and success, and the image of fire above heaven, which asks a person to hold back what is evil and bring out what is good.
Questions people ask
What does hexagram 14 mean?
It describes a time of abundance held by someone who stays humble. The judgment says “there will be great progress and success”.
What does hexagram 14 unchanging mean?
With no moving lines you read only the judgment and the image. For hexagram 14 that is great progress and success, and the image, in which the superior man “represses what is evil and gives distinction to what is good”.
What does hexagram 14 changing to 1 mean?
It is hexagram 14 with its fifth line moving. That line shows sincerity answered by all the others and asks for “a proper majesty”, and when it changes the hexagram becomes number 1.
What does hexagram 14 changing to 34 mean?
It is hexagram 14 with its top line moving. That line speaks of “help accorded to him from Heaven”, and when it changes the hexagram becomes number 34.
What is the warning in hexagram 14?
Legge names it as pride. Of a state of abundance he writes that “The danger threatening such a condition arises from the pride which it is likely to engender”. The first line adds its own caution, to stay “conscious of difficulty”.
Richard Wilhelm, translated by Cary F. Baynes. Tâ Yû in James Legge. Possession in Great Measure in Wilhelm and Baynes.
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