Hexagram 26 for work
Hexagram 26 Great Accumulation for work and career
In work Da Chu is the hexagram of accumulated capacity: the Great Image has the superior person 'storing up the words and deeds of the past to build their character', and the judgment promises that such a person should serve in public and may 'cross the great river'. The lines are mostly about being stopped. Strength at the bottom is told to halt, the carriage loses its axle strap, and only at line three may the good horses run. The upper lines show how a good manager restrains: early, lightly, by removing the cause of friction rather than contesting it.
For a project, a job or a negotiation, the hexagram favours building reserves before making the move, and it favours a leader who tames strong subordinates by redirecting them. A changing line in the lower trigram says you are the one being held and should accept it; in the upper trigram you are the one holding, and the question is whether you are doing it at the right moment. The top line is the open road.
The hexagram in brief
Heaven inside the mountain: great power held and stored. Firm correctness brings success; serve in public rather than eating at home, and the great river can be crossed.
Accumulate knowledge and strength by studying the past, restrain impulse until it is ripe, then act boldly.
The judgment
大畜：利貞，不家食吉，利涉大川。Under the conditions of Tâ Khû it will be advantageous to be firm and correct. (If its subject do not seek to) enjoy his revenues in his own family (without taking service at court), there will be good fortune. It will be advantageous for him to cross the great stream.
Which line changed?
A changing line sharpens the answer. Each line of 大畜 Great Accumulation has its own page:
- 初九Nine at the beginningdanger ahead · stop · held back
- 九二Nine in the second placeaxle strap off · cannot move · no blame
- 九三Nine in the third placegood horses · daily practice · like-minded above
- 六四Six in the fourth placeyoung bull · check it early · great good fortune
- 六五Six in the fifth placegelded boar · remove the root · good fortune
- 上九Nine at the topheaven's road · accumulation complete · wide open
The same hexagram for
Questions
- What does hexagram 26, Great Accumulation, mean for a career question?
- In work Da Chu is the hexagram of accumulated capacity: the Great Image has the superior person 'storing up the words and deeds of the past to build their character', and the judgment promises that such a person should serve in public and may 'cross the great river'. The lines are mostly about being stopped. Strength at the bottom is told to halt, the carriage loses its axle strap, and only at line three may the good horses run. The upper lines show how a good manager restrains: early, lightly, by removing the cause of friction rather than contesting it.
- What does Hexagram 26, 大畜 Great Accumulation, mean?
- Heaven inside the mountain: great power held and stored. Firm correctness brings success; serve in public rather than eating at home, and the great river can be crossed.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi (Wuyingdian lineage). English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East XVI, 1882 (public domain).