TL;DR: The Shan Tian Da Chu (大畜) hexagram is the 26th of the 64 I Ching hexagrams, with the upper trigram Gen (Mountain) and the lower trigram Qian (Heaven). The hexagram text says: 大畜：利貞，不家食吉，利涉大川 (Da Chu: favorable to be steadfast, not eating at home is auspicious, favorable to cross the great river). The Great Image says: 天在山中，大畜；君子以多識前言往行，以畜其德. Nhật Nguyệt's suggestion: the hexagram suggests a phase of storing up and building a foundation before exerting strength; this is a suggestion for reflection, not a promise of results.
What is the Shan Tian Da Chu hexagram?
The Shan Tian Da Chu hexagram (大畜) is the 26th of the 64 Zhou Yi hexagrams, composed of the upper trigram Gen (Mountain, ☶) and the lower trigram Qian (Heaven, ☰). The name 大畜 means "great accumulation": the image is Heaven resting within the belly of the mountain, a great resource stored up inside.
By traditional attribution, the classic portion of the Zhou Yi is ascribed to Fu Xi, King Wen and the Duke of Zhou, while the Ten Wings (including the Tuanzhuan and Xiangzhuan) are ascribed to Confucius; modern scholarship does not treat these attributions as proven, and generally places the classic portion in the Western Zhou period and the Ten Wings between the 5th and 2nd centuries BCE.
How is the original text of the Shan Tian Da Chu hexagram written?
The judgment (guaci): 大畜：利貞，不家食吉，利涉大川[1]。
Read in Sino-Vietnamese pronunciation: Đại Súc: lợi trinh, bất gia thực cát, lợi thiệp đại xuyên. Close translation: Da Chu, to hold firm in correctness is favourable; not to eat at home is auspicious; favourable to cross the great river.
The line texts (yaoci):
- First nine: 有厲利已。 (Hữu lệ lợi dĩ: there is danger; to stop is favourable.)[1]
- Second nine: 輿說輹。 (Dư thuyết phúc: the cart has lost the piece that wedges its axle.)[1]
- Third nine: 良馬逐，利艱貞，吉。日閑輿衛，利有攸往。 (Lương mã trục, lợi gian trinh, cát. Nhật nhàn dư vệ, lợi hữu du vãng: good horses chase, hardship and firm correctness are favourable, auspicious. Day by day train the cart and the guard, favourable to have somewhere to go.)[1]
- Fourth six: 童牛之告，元吉。 (Đồng ngưu chi cáo, nguyên cát: a wooden bar on the horns of a young ox, greatly auspicious.)[1]
- Fifth six: 豶豕之牙，吉。 (Phần thỉ chi nha, cát: the tusks of a castrated boar, auspicious.)[1]
- Upper nine: 何天之衢，亨。 (Hà thiên chi cù, hanh: reaching the highway of Heaven, success.)[1]
The Tuanzhuan (part of the Ten Wings) says: 大畜，剛健篤實輝光，日新其德，剛上而尚賢。能止健，大正也。不家食吉，養賢也。利涉大川，應乎天也[1]。
The Great Image (Xiangzhuan) says: 天在山中，大畜；君子以多識前言往行，以畜其德。 (Heaven within the mountain is Great Accumulation; the noble person accordingly remembers many words and deeds of the ancients, in order to accumulate their own virtue.)[1]
The Small Image for each line: First nine 有厲利已，不犯災也; Second nine 輿說輹，中无尤也; Third nine 利有攸往，上合志也; Fourth six 六四元吉，有喜也; Fifth six 六五之吉，有慶也; Upper nine 何天之衢，道大行也[1].
How do Wang Bi and Zhu Xi comment on the Da Chu hexagram?
Wang Bi's commentary (in the Zhou Yi Zhengyi) explains the Tuanzhuan: "剛上而尚賢" speaks of the upper nine line, which is above and greatly penetrating; the firm advances and is not resisted, and this is called "honouring the worthy"; "Năng chỉ kiện" means nothing is stronger than Qian, yet it can be checked, and unless one is of "great correctness" this cannot be done; "Bất gia thực cát" is nourishing the worthy, so that the worthy do not eat at home, which is auspicious; "Lợi thiệp đại xuyên" is that through honouring the worthy one controls strength, and great correctness responds to Heaven, so there is no fear of danger[2].
On the first nine, Wang Bi comments: the fourth line blocks it, and it cannot yet intrude, so advancing brings danger while stopping is favourable[2]. On the second nine: the fifth line occupies the place of blocking and is at its height, so it cannot yet intrude; meeting this situation and advancing gives the image of "the cart losing its axle wedge"; but because it dwells in the central place, it knows to stop when it meets difficulty, and so is "without blame". On the third nine: when things reach an extreme they reverse, so when blocking reaches its extreme there is passage; at the third nine, advancing, it meets the upper nine at the place where the highway of Heaven is open, and can gallop, hence "good horses chase"; "nhàn" means obstruction, "vệ" means protection; being of one mind with the line above, "favourable to have somewhere to go". On the fourth six: it stands at the head of the Gen trigram, occupies the correct position, and can check the firm line at the beginning, blunting the point from the first sprouting, hence "joy". On the fifth six: the tusks of a boar running wild are a hard and violent thing difficult to control, referring only to the second nine line; the fifth line occupies the honoured seat and is the master of accumulation, and can make those tusks submit, hence "blessing". On the upper nine: it is at the extreme of accumulation, and when accumulation reaches its extreme there is passage; "hà" is a particle of speech, meaning something like asking what could block it any longer, and this is the open highway of Heaven.
Zhu Xi's commentary (Zhou Yi Benyi) on the judgment: Da Chu uses Gen to check Qian, and is moreover the stage of great accumulation; inwardly Qian is firm and strong, outwardly Gen is solid and radiant, so that it can renew its virtue daily and become a great accumulation. Considered as a changing hexagram, this hexagram comes from Xu, with the nine line rising from the fifth; considered as a hexagram body, the six in the fifth place is honoured and honours the worthy; considered as a hexagram virtue, it can check strength; none of these is possible without "great correctness", and so the divination text is that firm correctness is favourable and that not eating at home is auspicious. The six in the fifth place corresponds to Qian below, which is to respond to Heaven, and so the divination text further says it is favourable to cross the great river; "bất gia thực" means to eat one's stipend at court rather than eat at home.
On the first nine, Zhu Xi comments: the three yang lines of Qian are checked by Gen, and so the inner and outer trigrams each take one sense; the first nine is checked by the fourth six, and so the divination text is that going brings danger while stopping is favourable. On the second nine: the second nine is also checked by the fifth six, and because it dwells in the central place it stops of itself and does not advance. On the third nine: the three yang lines are at the extreme of strength, and the line above is at the extreme of checking, so this is the moment when the extreme opens into passage; moreover they are all yang lines, so they do not check one another but advance together, giving the image of good horses chasing; but because it is too firm, the divination text must warn of hardship and firm correctness, and of training before going is favourable. On the fourth six: "đồng" means not yet having horns, and "cáo" is the wooden bar laid across an ox's horns to prevent goring; checking it before it has horns makes the task easy, and this is the auspiciousness of great good. On the fifth six: the yang line has already advanced, and checking it again is not as easy as at the start, but because it uses softness in the centre and occupies the honoured seat, it gets the opportunity to control it, and so the divination text, though auspicious, does not say "greatly". On the upper nine: "hà thiên chi cù" says how very open it is; when accumulation reaches its extreme there is passage, wide open and without obstruction.
In Nhật Nguyệt's reading, what does the Da Chu hexagram speak about?
In Nhật Nguyệt's reading, Da Chu is the hexagram of storing up at the right time: inside there is strength (Qian), but outside there is stopping (Gen). The judgment places the two words "firm correctness" first, and only then speaks of "not eating at home" and "favourable to cross the great river", which shows that holding firm in correctness is the foundation, while bringing out what has been accumulated for use is a later matter. The Great Image says "remember many words and deeds of the ancients, in order to accumulate their virtue", that is, learning from the words and deeds of those before us to thicken one's own virtue; this is one of the most condensed statements in the Zhou Yi about learning.
The six lines sketch a progression: the first two lines are checked and should stop, the third line, when checking reaches its extreme, opens into passage yet must still warn itself, the fourth and fifth lines are two ways of controlling strength (checking it while still young, and taming it once it has grown), and the top line is the moment when the road opens wide. In Nhật Nguyệt's reading, the hexagram promises no success; it only describes different positions of a resource and the ways of acting that the ancients recorded.
Meeting the Shan Tian Da Chu hexagram when asking about work: how should it be understood?
Nhật Nguyệt's suggestion: if you are asking about work, this hexagram points to a stage for attending to professional foundations, relationships and reputation rather than making a big change. The first and second lines describe a situation of being checked, suited to not yet advancing; the third line describes a moment when momentum has built but hardship and firm correctness, and training, are still needed. This is a suggestion for re-examining your circumstances, not a promise about outcomes.
Meeting the Shan Tian Da Chu hexagram when asking about love and family?
Nhật Nguyệt's suggestion: the hexagram has no line that speaks specifically about romantic love, so one should not attach advice about courtship to it. What can be drawn from it is the spirit of "accumulate first, use later": building mutual understanding and each person's stability before planning a shared life. The line texts about "a wooden bar on the horns of a young ox" and "the tusks of a castrated boar" belong to the social setting of ancient times (herding, control), and so are better read as historical images than as norms for today.
Meeting the Shan Tian Da Chu hexagram when asking about money: how should it be understood?
Nhật Nguyệt's suggestion: the judgment and the Great Image both turn on storing up before using, so it can be read as a reminder to keep a reserve and avoid expanding beyond your foundations. "Favourable to cross the great river" in the original text speaks of a great undertaking that can be carried out once one is ready, not of an instruction to take risks. This is a suggestion for reflection, not a financial forecast.
Meeting the Shan Tian Da Chu hexagram when asking about health?
Nhật Nguyệt's suggestion: this hexagram has no medical content; the lines speak only of the positions of advancing and stopping and of ways to control strength. If you have a health problem, you should rely on physicians and medical examination, and should not rely on the hexagram to decide on treatment. The spirit of "checking it while still small" in the fourth line can be read as a reminder to attend early to small signs.
What is Nhật Nguyệt's suggestion for a leader who meets the Da Chu hexagram?
Nhật Nguyệt's suggestion: the Tuanzhuan speaks of "honouring the worthy" and "nourishing the worthy", that is, valuing the worthy and supporting them; the fourth and fifth lines describe two ways of controlling strength, checking it while still young and taming it once it has grown. For a leader, this is a suggestion about employing people and handling risk early. This is a suggestion for re-examining your way of working, not a formula that guarantees results.
Quick reference table: the Shan Tian Da Chu hexagram
| Aspect | Content |
|---|---|
| Position among the 64 hexagrams | 26 |
| Chinese characters | 大畜 |
| Symbol | ䷙ |
| English name | The Taming Power of the Great |
| Upper trigram (outer) | Gen (Mountain), element Earth, direction Northeast |
| Lower trigram (inner) | Qian (Heaven), element Metal, direction Northwest |
| Six lines, first line at the bottom | first yang, second yang, third yang, fourth yin, fifth yin, top yang |
| Image | Heaven within the belly of the mountain, great strength stored up. |
| Interpretation | An image of storing and holding back a great resource. The ancients linked this hexagram to learning and training before putting anything to use. Holding back at the right time is also a way of using strength. |
The figures in the table match the results of the lookup tools on Nhật Nguyệt.
