Great Taming
- In Chinese
- 大畜 dàchù
- Above
- Keeping Still, mountain
- Below
- The Creative, heaven
Did you get this hexagram?
Mark your changing lines and keep your cast.
Mark my castWhat hexagram 26 means
Hexagram 26 is heaven inside the mountain. The three whole lines of heaven sit below, and the mountain above holds them back.
Legge finds two meanings in its name. “It is the symbol of restraint, and of accumulation.” He joins them in one sentence, “What is repressed and restrained accumulates its strength and increases its volume.”
The judgment is favourable. It says “it will be advantageous to be firm and correct”, it gives good fortune to the one who does not “enjoy his revenues in his own family”, and it favours crossing “the great stream”.
The judgment and the image
The judgment
大畜利貞。不家食吉。利涉大川。
THE TAMING POWER OF THE GREAT. Perseverance furthers. Not eating at home brings good fortune. It furthers one to cross the great water.
it furthers it is favorablegood fortune it goes well
The image
天在山中，《大畜》。君子以多識前言往行以畜其德。
Heaven within the mountain: The image of THE TAMING POWER OF THE GREAT. Thus the superior man acquaints himself with many sayings of antiquity And many deeds of the past, In order to strengthen his character thereby.
What the commentaries say
The commentary on the judgment reads the two trigrams as strength and solidity that give light. Together they “indicate a daily renewal of his virtue”. It also names what the upper trigram does, since “there is power (in the upper trigram) to keep the strongest in restraint”.
The same commentary looks at the whole line at the top. “The strong line is in the highest place, and suggests the value set on talents and virtue”. Of the good fortune for the one who does not live off his own family, it says that this “shows how talents and virtue are nourished”.
Legge sums up the teaching of that commentary. The one who gathers his virtue “must be firm and correct, and may then, engaging in the public service, enjoy the king's grace, and undertake the most difficult enterprises”.
The image is a mountain with heaven in the midst of it. From it the commentary draws a rule of study. The superior man “stores largely in his memory the words and deeds of former men”.
Wilhelm gives the purpose of that study. The superior man learns the sayings and deeds of the past “In order to strengthen his character thereby”.
Legge divides the six lines in two groups. All of them deal with movement that is held back, and “The first three lines receive that repression, the upper three exercise it.” He adds that “The accumulation to which all tends is that of virtue”.
The six lines
First line
有厲，利己。
Danger is at hand. It furthers one to desist.
danger there is dangerit furthers it is favorable
The first line meets danger at the start and is told to stop. The commentary gives the reason, “he should not rashly expose himself to calamity”. Legge adds that the restraint on this line would grow if it tried to go on, so “It is better for him to halt.”
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 18, Repairing What Was Spoiled
Second line
輿說輹。
The axletrees are taken from the wagon.
no verdict
The line stops, and here the halt comes from within. Legge writes that the line “stops its advance of itself”, and of the strap that stopped the carriage he says “he himself acts that part”. The commentary finds no fault in this, since “being in the central position, he will incur no blame”. Wilhelm has a different picture, “The axletrees are taken from the wagon.”
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 22, Grace
Third line
良馬逐，利艱貞，曰閑輿衛，利有攸往。
A good horse that follows others. Awareness of danger, With perseverance, furthers. Practice chariot driving and armed defense daily. It furthers one to have somewhere to go.
it furthers it is favorable
This line moves ahead with good horses. The top line does not hold it back, and Legge says of the two that “They advance rapidly together; but the position is perilous for 3.” The text asks for firmness and for daily practice, and the commentary explains the advantage by the top line, whose subject “is of the same mind with him”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 41, Decrease
Fourth line
童牛之牿，元吉。
The headboard of a young bull. Great good fortune.
supreme good fortune it goes very well, from the root
This broken line is the first of those that restrain, and it is the one line with great good fortune. Legge explains that the young bull “has not yet got horns”, so the piece of wood is care taken before any harm. He calls it “an instance of extraordinary precaution; and precaution is always good”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 14, Great Possession
Fifth line
豶豕之牙，吉。
The tusk of a gelded boar. Good fortune.
good fortune it goes well
The danger here is met early. Legge says of the boar “Let him be castrated, and though his tusks remain, he cares little to use them.” He reads the line as the ruler, “whose work is to repress the advance of evil”, and the text gives it good fortune.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 9, Small Taming
Sixth line
何天之衢，亨。
One attains the way of heaven. Success.
success things flow and come through
At the top the holding back ends. Legge writes that “The work of repression is over”, and that the strong line now has “the amplest scope”. The commentary says “the way is grandly open for movement”. Wilhelm has “One attains the way of heaven. Success.”
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 11, Peace
Hexagram 26 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 26 unchanging, what remains is the judgment, which favours firmness, not eating at home and the crossing of the great stream. With it stays the image, which asks for the words and deeds of the past to be stored up.
Questions people ask
What does hexagram 26 mean?
It stands for strength that is held back and so gathers. Legge calls it “the symbol of restraint, and of accumulation”, and the judgment says “it will be advantageous to be firm and correct”.
What does hexagram 26 unchanging mean?
With no moving lines you read only the judgment and the image. For hexagram 26 that is firmness, good fortune in not eating at home and the crossing of the great stream, and the storing up of “the words and deeds of former men”.
What does hexagram 26 changing to 11 mean?
It is hexagram 26 with its top line moving. That line shows the end of the holding back, where “the way is grandly open for movement”, and when it changes the hexagram becomes number 11.
What does hexagram 26 changing to 14 mean?
It is hexagram 26 with its fourth line moving. That line shows the young bull with the wood over its horns and speaks of “great good fortune”, and when it changes the hexagram becomes number 14.
Which trigrams make up hexagram 26?
Heaven is below and the mountain is above. The image puts it as “Heaven within the mountain”.
Richard Wilhelm, translated by Cary F. Baynes. Tâ Khû in James Legge. The Taming Power of the Great in Wilhelm and Baynes.
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