Hexagram 26, line 6
上九Line 6 of Great Accumulation
Nine at the top · 大畜 dà chù
爻辭 The line text
何天之衢，亨。The sixth line, undivided, shows its subject (as) in command of the firmament of heaven. There will be progress.
何天之衢，道大行也。'In command of the firmament of heaven:'—the way is grandly open for movement.
In plain words
'Bearing heaven's thoroughfare: success.' At the top of Da Chu the storing is finished and the mountain that held heaven in now opens into the sky itself. Line six is yang at the end of Gen, the line the Tuan calls 'the firm above, honouring the worthy'; the three strong lines below have been tamed and are ready, and this line is the open road along which all that accumulated strength can finally travel. The small Image says simply 'the way is greatly carried out' (道大行也). Where most top lines mean excess, this one means release — the ripeness that the whole hexagram has been preparing.
If this line is changing
What you have been building and holding back is ready; take the open road without hesitation, and take with you what you stored.
Where the line stands
- A solid line, yang — written 九 (nine), the number of an old yang line that moves when cast.
- It is not in its correct place (不當位): a yang line in an even position or a yin line in an odd one, which the tradition reads as a line under some strain — often the reason a text sounds a warning.
- It belongs to the upper trigram 艮 Gen (Keeping Still) (mountain).
- It has no correspondence (無應) with line 3: both lines are yang, so this line must find its support in its neighbours or in itself.
之卦 When this line moves
大畜 Great Accumulation becomes ䷊ 11 泰 Prosperity
Earth above and heaven below, their energies meeting and mingling. The small departs, the great arrives: open communication, prosperity, a flourishing time.
What it becomes11 · 泰 ProsperitytàiThe six lines of 大畜 Great Accumulation
- 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
Read 大畜 Great Accumulation for a question about
Questions about this line
- What does Nine at the top of hexagram 26, Great Accumulation, mean?
- 'Bearing heaven's thoroughfare: success.' At the top of Da Chu the storing is finished and the mountain that held heaven in now opens into the sky itself. Line six is yang at the end of Gen, the line the Tuan calls 'the firm above, honouring the worthy'; the three strong lines below have been tamed and are ready, and this line is the open road along which all that accumulated strength can finally travel. The small Image says simply 'the way is greatly carried out' (道大行也). Where most top lines mean excess, this one means release — the ripeness that the whole hexagram has been preparing.
- What does hexagram 26 become when line 6 changes?
- Great Accumulation becomes hexagram 11, 泰 Prosperity: Earth above and heaven below, their energies meeting and mingling. The small departs, the great arrives: open communication, prosperity, a flourishing time.
- Is line 6 of Great Accumulation in its correct place?
- It is not in its correct place (不當位): a yang line in an even position or a yin line in an odd one, which the tradition reads as a line under some strain — often the reason a text sounds a warning.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi (Wuyingdian lineage). English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East XVI, 1882 (public domain).