Hexagram 28 for love
Hexagram 28 Great Excess in love and relationships
Da Guo is a ridgepole sagging under too much weight, a lake rising over the trees: a situation that has grown bigger than its supports. In a relationship this is the hexagram of the extraordinary pairing or the extraordinary strain — the lines twice picture an old trunk flowering through an unlikely match, once as lasting renewal (the shoot at line two) and once as a bloom that cannot last (the flower at line five). The bond may be real; the question is whether its foundations can bear what is asked of them.
For a question about love the hexagram counsels great care at the edges and flexibility in the middle. The weak lines at either end must be scrupulous (the white rushes) or ready to go under (the wader); the strong lines must bend rather than hold rigid, and must not hedge with other attachments. A changing line in the lower trigram says the relationship is taking on weight and needs support; one in the upper trigram asks whether the display of strength is renewal or only show.
The hexagram in brief
The lake drowning the trees: the ridgepole bends under too much weight. An extraordinary situation, strong in the middle and weak at the ends — something must give way or be done.
Act decisively but gently to relieve the load; extraordinary times excuse extraordinary measures, not recklessness.
The judgment
大過：棟橈，利有攸往，亨。Tâ Kwo suggests to us a beam that is weak. There will be advantage in moving (under its conditions) in any direction whatever; there will be success.
Which line changed?
A changing line sharpens the answer. Each line of 大過 Great Excess has its own page:
- 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
The same hexagram for
Questions
- Is hexagram 28, Great Excess, a good sign for love?
- Da Guo is a ridgepole sagging under too much weight, a lake rising over the trees: a situation that has grown bigger than its supports. In a relationship this is the hexagram of the extraordinary pairing or the extraordinary strain — the lines twice picture an old trunk flowering through an unlikely match, once as lasting renewal (the shoot at line two) and once as a bloom that cannot last (the flower at line five). The bond may be real; the question is whether its foundations can bear what is asked of them.
- What does Hexagram 28, 大過 Great Excess, mean?
- The lake drowning the trees: the ridgepole bends under too much weight. An extraordinary situation, strong in the middle and weak at the ends — something must give way or be done.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi (Wuyingdian lineage). English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East XVI, 1882 (public domain).