Line 1
初九
有厲，利已。
Danger is present. Stopping is beneficial.
The bottom line meets restraint before stored force can leave the threshold. Its change opens lower Heaven into Wind, producing Hexagram 18, Mountain above Wind.
Read Line 1 in contextChoose a line to preview its one-line change.
Hexagram 26
The Taming Power of the Great
大畜Dà Xù
Great force stored, trained, and made ready for consequential use.
The Judgment
Constancy is beneficial. Being maintained at court rather than at home is favorable. Crossing the great river is beneficial.
利貞。不家食，吉。利涉大川。
The Great Image
Heaven is held within the mountain: The Taming Power of the Great. The exemplary person learns many words and deeds of the past, storing them as strength of character.
天在山中，大畜。君子以多識前言往行，以畜其德。
Bottom to top
The six lines
Line 2
九二
輿說輹。
The carriage's axle fastening comes off.
Line 2 sits at the center of lower Heaven, but the carriage has lost its fastening. Making this line yielding gives Fire below Mountain, Hexagram 22.
Read Line 2 in contextLine 3
九三
良馬逐，利艱貞。曰閑輿衛，利有攸往。
Fine horses pursue one another. Constancy through difficulty is beneficial. Practice chariot driving and defense daily; proceeding is beneficial.
Fine horses and daily training appear at Line 3, the outer edge of lower Heaven. The image combines readiness to advance with practiced control. Changing the line turns Heaven into Lake and produces Hexagram 41, Lake below Mountain.
Read Line 3 in contextLine 4
六四
童牛之牿，元吉。
A horn-board fitted to a young bull. Greatly favorable.
Line 4 checks the young bull at the start of outer Mountain. Once that line becomes firm, the Mountain changes to Fire and the result is Hexagram 14, Fire above Heaven.
Read Line 4 in contextLine 5
六五
豶豕之牙，吉。
The tusks of a castrated boar. Favorable.
The boar image occupies Line 5, Mountain's yielding center. Changing it to firm makes the upper trigram Wind and produces Hexagram 9, a smaller form of accumulation above Heaven.
Read Line 5 in contextLine 6
上九
何天之衢，亨。
Heaven's thoroughfare lies wide open. Success.
At Line 6, Mountain's firm boundary opens. The resulting figure is Hexagram 11, Earth above Heaven.
Read Line 6 in context
Structure
One line away
Changes to
One classical protocol
In practice
A cast determines which part of a hexagram governs the reading. When one line moves, that line is read as the focus; other moving-line counts use different focus rules.
Read the changing-line protocol
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