Hexagram 28, line 3
九三Line 3 of Great Excess
Nine in the third place · 大過 dà guò
爻辭 The line text
棟橈，凶。The third line, undivided, shows a beam that is weak. There will be evil.
棟橈之凶，不可以有輔也。'The evil connected with the beam that is weak' arises from this, that no help can be given (to the condition thus represented).
In plain words
'The ridgepole sags: misfortune.' Here the hexagram's own image appears in a single line, and in its worst form. Line three is yang in a yang place at the top of Xun — the most unrelievedly firm position in a hexagram already too firm. It does have a correspondent in the weak top line, but Cheng Yi observes that it is too stiff to accept that support: a beam that will not flex breaks. The small Image says exactly this, 'it cannot be helped' (不可以有輔也). Where line two's excess was softened by nearness to yin, line three's excess is pure, and the roof comes down.
If this line is changing
The load is too much for you alone and your rigidity is the problem; bend, let someone share the weight, and stop treating every offer of help as an insult.
Where the line stands
- A solid line, yang — written 九 (nine), the number of an old yang line that moves when cast.
- It is in its correct place (當位): a yang line in an odd position or a yin line in an even one, which the tradition reads as a line at ease where it stands.
- It belongs to the lower trigram 巽 Xun (the Gentle) (wind).
- It corresponds (應) with line 6: one yin and one yang, the two lines answer each other across the hexagram.
之卦 When this line moves
大過 Great Excess becomes ䷮ 47 困 Confinement
A lake with no water in it: exhaustion. Success is still possible for the great person who stays correct — words are not believed now, so prove yourself by steadiness.
What it becomes47 · 困 ConfinementkùnThe six lines of 大過 Great Excess
- 初六Six at the beginningwhite rushes · extreme care · weak below
- 九二Nine in the second placewithered poplar sprouts · unlikely pairing · renewal
- 九三Nine in the third placeridgepole sags · too rigid · refusing help
- 九四Nine in the fourth placeridgepole holds · tempered strength · no other attachments
- 九五Nine in the fifth placewithered poplar flowers · brief bloom · neither praise nor blame
- 上六Six at the topin over the head · going under · no blame
Read 大過 Great Excess for a question about
Questions about this line
- What does Nine in the third place of hexagram 28, Great Excess, mean?
- 'The ridgepole sags: misfortune.' Here the hexagram's own image appears in a single line, and in its worst form. Line three is yang in a yang place at the top of Xun — the most unrelievedly firm position in a hexagram already too firm. It does have a correspondent in the weak top line, but Cheng Yi observes that it is too stiff to accept that support: a beam that will not flex breaks. The small Image says exactly this, 'it cannot be helped' (不可以有輔也). Where line two's excess was softened by nearness to yin, line three's excess is pure, and the roof comes down.
- What does hexagram 28 become when line 3 changes?
- Great Excess becomes hexagram 47, 困 Confinement: A lake with no water in it: exhaustion. Success is still possible for the great person who stays correct — words are not believed now, so prove yourself by steadiness.
- Is line 3 of Great Excess in its correct place?
- It is in its correct place (當位): a yang line in an odd position or a yin line in an even one, which the tradition reads as a line at ease where it stands.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi (Wuyingdian lineage). English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East XVI, 1882 (public domain).