The 64 hexagrams · Hexagram 26

What does I Ching hexagram 26, Great Restraint, mean?

The judgment

大畜：利貞，不家食吉，利涉大川。Great restraint: it pays to hold firm. Not eating at home brings good fortune. It pays to cross the great river.Zhou Yi 周易, 大畜, judgment. Source

The image

天在山中，大畜；君子以多識前言往行，以畜其德。Heaven within a mountain. The noble person learns many past sayings and deeds to build up character.Zhou Yi 周易, 大畜, image. Source

The six lines

Read from the bottom up. In a cast, only the lines that move are read, and they turn the hexagram into another one. Here they are in the original; a reading translates the moving lines and reads them for the question asked.

1. First line初九：有厲利已。
2. Second line九二：輿說輹。
3. Third line九三：良馬逐，利艱貞，吉。日閑輿衛，利有攸往。
4. Fourth line六四：童牛之告，元吉。
5. Fifth line六五：豶豕之牙，吉。
6. Top line上九：何天之衢，亨。

The Chinese is the received text of the Zhou Yi; the English is ours. Lines and images that speak of punishments, prisons, illness or money are left out. For entertainment and self-reflection.

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