The Great Image and the small Images of the I Ching

The Image commentary (象傳, Xiang Zhuan) has two quite different parts. The Great Image (大象) gives one sentence per hexagram: a picture made from its two trigrams, followed by the conduct that suits it — "the superior person, in accordance with this, …". The small Images (小象) give one short gloss per line, usually explaining a line text by its position. When no lines move in your cast, the Great Image is the most directly usable advice the book offers.

Where the Image commentary sits

The Xiang Zhuan is counted as two of the Ten Wings, upper and lower, following the two halves of the classic — not divided into "great" and "small." The names Great and small Image are a later convenience for its two layers. In the received text, edited in the tradition of Wang Bi, the Great Image follows each Judgment and its Tuan commentary, and each small Image follows its line, introduced by 象曰 ("the Image says").

Legge renders the Great Image's formula as "the superior man, in accordance with this, …"; Wilhelm as "Thus the superior man …". Both are translating the same two characters, 君子以.

How the Great Image is built

Nearly every Great Image follows the same three-step pattern:

• A picture of the two trigrams in relation: "a spring comes out below a mountain," "heaven and water go opposite ways."
• The hexagram's name.
• A person who takes this as a model, followed by what they do.

Look at a few, and you hear the rhythm:

• Hexagram 1, Qian: 天行健，君子以自強不息 — heaven moves with vigour; the superior person, accordingly, strengthens themselves without ceasing.
• Hexagram 2, Kun: 地勢坤，君子以厚德載物 — the earth's condition is receptive; the superior person, accordingly, carries things with generous virtue.
• Hexagram 4, Meng: 山下出泉，蒙；君子以果行育德 — a spring issues below the mountain; the superior person acts decisively and nurtures character.
• Hexagram 6, Song: 天與水違行，訟；君子以作事謀始 — heaven and water go opposite ways: conflict; the superior person, in undertaking anything, plans at the beginning.
• Hexagram 52, Gen: 兼山，艮；君子以思不出其位 — mountains doubled: keeping still; the superior person does not let their thoughts go beyond their situation.

The subject is not always the 君子. Seven Great Images name "the former kings" (先王), among them Bi, Yu, Guan and Fu; a few name "the sovereign" (hou), as in Tai and Gou; Li names "the great person" (大人); Bo names "those above" (上). These are hexagrams whose conduct concerns ruling a realm rather than governing oneself. When you read them today, take the role that fits your position: whoever in your situation carries responsibility for others. We explain the figure in more depth in who is the superior person.

Why it often seems to ignore the Judgment

The Great Image works on its own logic. It looks only at the two trigrams as natural images and draws an ethical lesson, sometimes in a tone quite different from the Judgment. That is most striking in hard hexagrams:

• Hexagram 12, Pi, Standstill: the Great Image says the superior person restrains their virtue to avoid difficulty.
• Hexagram 39, Jian, Obstruction: 山上有水，蹇；君子以反身修德 — water on the mountain; the superior person turns back to themselves and cultivates character.
• Hexagram 47, Kun, Oppression: 澤無水，困；君子以致命遂志 — a lake without water; the superior person stakes their life on following their will.

The Judgment tells you what the situation is; the Great Image tells you what a person of good character does in it. That difference is why the Image is so useful in practice: it never leaves you with only a verdict.

The small Images: one gloss per line

The small Images are brief, often rhymed in the original, and mostly explain a line by its place. On Qian:

• 潛龍勿用，陽在下也 — "Hidden dragon, do not act": the yang is at the bottom.
• 見龍在田，德施普也 — "Dragon appearing in the field": its virtue spreads widely.
• 亢龍有悔，盈不可久也 — "Arrogant dragon has regret": fullness cannot last.

On the first line of Kun: 履霜堅冰，陰始凝也；馴致其道，至堅冰也 — "Treading on frost, hard ice": yin begins to congeal; follow its course and you reach hard ice.

The most common phrases in the small Images are positional: 位不當也 ("the place is not appropriate"), 以中正也 ("because it is central and correct"), 志行也 ("the will is carried out"). They are the same vocabulary as correct place and central lines. When a line text puzzles you, the small Image often tells you which structural fact the tradition thinks explains it.

Why the Great Image is the advice for a static hexagram

Under the convention set down by Zhu Xi, a cast with no changing lines is read from the Judgment of the hexagram (see changing lines). Zhu Xi's rule names the Judgment; the Great Image is not part of it. But many readers, Wilhelm among them, treat the Image as the Judgment's natural partner, and with good reason:

• A static hexagram describes a whole situation, not a turning point. The Great Image is the only text that speaks to the whole hexagram as a model for conduct.
• The small Images belong to lines. With nothing moving, there is no line to single out, so the small Images stay in the background.
• The Image is always practical. It answers "what do I do now?" even when the Judgment only says "misfortune" or "no blame."

We say more about reading settled casts in no changing lines.

Putting it into practice

When you cast a hexagram:

• No moving lines: read the Judgment, then let the Great Image set your conduct. Rewrite its last clause in your own words, about your own matter.
• One or more moving lines: read each changing line text with its small Image beside it. If the small Image says "the place is not appropriate," ask where you are acting out of position.
• Either way: read the Great Image picture slowly. "Water on the mountain" or "a spring below the mountain" is a scene you can hold in mind for days — often more useful than any paraphrase.