The name 名
畜 has three layers: to store up, to rear or tame, and to hold back. Dàchù is the great taming the small, since yang, called ‘great’, outnumbers yin four to two; it can also mean a great store, in contrast to Xiǎochù, the small one. The key is that storing means stopping: a reservoir holds nothing if the water keeps flowing.
The image 象
Mountain (Gèn) above, Heaven (Qián) below: Heaven within the mountain. Heaven is vaster than any mountain, yet here it is held inside one, an image of containing something immense. The tireless strength of Qián below is checked by the solid weight of Gèn above, so great energy does not leak away but settles and accumulates.
Layers of images 層
A gua can be read on several levels at once: the trigrams as members of a family (father, mother, eldest to youngest sons and daughters), the six lines as ranks in an organisation (from newcomer to ruler), and as forces of nature and animals. Each extra level adds meaning to the line texts.
Read as a family
Below is Qián, the father; above is Gèn, the youngest son. The youngest son sits on top and holds back the father’s tireless strength, keeping it within the house: an unusual arrangement. The smallest member of the family becomes the gatekeeper, not letting strength be spent all at once but storing and settling it until the time is ripe to release it.
Line 2, “the cart’s axle-block comes off”: lines 3–5 form a nuclear Zhèn, the great cart, and Line 2 sits beneath it, as if the carriage has come apart from the axle. It corresponds with Line 5 and could advance, but the Gèn mountain blocks the way, so it takes the wheels off itself and stops. Being central, it stops willingly and without fault.
Line 3, “good horses gallop; it is fitting to stay steady through hardship; practise daily with chariot and guard”: Qián is the fine horse, and the line also sits in the nuclear Zhèn, motion, so the horse wants to run. The Gèn mountain is just ahead, so it drills every day with cart and defence, holding firm through difficulty. Storing up is not standing still; it is training the gallop first.
Line 4, “a board on the young bull’s horns; supreme good fortune”: Line 4 has entered the upper Gèn, the youngest son, hence “young.” As soon as the calf’s horns sprout, a crosspiece is fitted so it will not gore anyone when grown. Upbringing starts early, dealing with a problem while it is still small, and that is why it is supremely auspicious.
Top line, “on heaven’s highway; success”: “on” here means standing upon, and the highway is a road open in every direction. The nuclear Zhèn below is the great road, and the top line stands above it in heaven’s position. When storing reaches its peak the restraint lifts, and from here every way is open.
Turned over, Dàchù becomes Wúwàng. In Wúwàng the eldest son acts beneath the father; in Dàchù the father’s strength is held by the youngest son. One asks “is the action right?”, the other “can the strength be held?” If you draw Dàchù and are itching to act, look back at Wúwàng: check your motive first, then decide whether to release your strength.
Swap the trigrams, heaven above and mountain below, and you get Dùn, Retreat. The same father and youngest son: in Dàchù heaven is held within the mountain and strength is stored; in Dùn heaven stands far above and slowly withdraws. The same force accumulates when it can be contained and leaves when it cannot.
In sequence 序
有无妄然後可畜，故受之以大畜。
The Sequence: only with freedom from falseness can there be accumulation, so Dàchù follows. Wúwàng is sincerity, with nothing hollow or scheming; on that genuine footing one can build inner substance and store it up. The two are mirror images: one about being true, the other about growing deep.
The judgment 辭
大畜：利貞，不家食吉，利涉大川。
The Judgment: it is favourable to be upright; not eating at home is fortunate; it is favourable to cross the great river. One who has stored up virtue and learning becomes a person of worth whom the state honours and supports, no longer idle at the family table; this means public life is in good order. If the times are disordered and service would mean compromise, then ‘cross the great river’: keep to your own path and stride on through hardship. Hexagrams that speak of crossing the great river always contain the power of Qián or Xùn.
Commentary on the judgment 彖
彖曰：大畜，剛健篤實輝光，日新其德，剛上而尚賢。能止健，大正也。不家食吉，養賢也。利涉大川，應乎天也。
The Commentary: Great Accumulation is firm and strong, sincere and solid, radiant with light, renewing its character day by day. Qián gives strength, Gèn gives solidity, and from them comes brilliance. ‘The firm is placed above and the worthy are honoured’ refers to Line 6; ‘able to restrain strength’ is great uprightness. Not eating at home means the state nourishes the worthy; crossing the great river means according with Heaven.
The great image 象
象曰：天在山中，大畜；君子以多識前言往行，以畜其德。
The Image: Heaven within the mountain. The noble person learns widely the words and deeds of the past, and so builds up character. This is not a lesson in saving money but in storing virtue: wealth can be swindled or stolen, character cannot. A person is, finally, what they say and what they do, and one should learn from the best of both.
The six lines 爻
Ruling line ‘The firm is placed above and the worthy honoured’: Line 6, firm at the summit, is where the accumulation is complete and the Way runs free. Line 5, yielding in the seat of honour and answered by Line 2, is the ruler who nurtures the worthy. Together they make the hexagram.
The path of the six lines, bottom to top
Line 1 has just started and Line 4 blocks the way: “there is danger; it is fitting to stop.” Line 2 removes its own axle-block and halts without fretting. Line 3 is the good horse, ready to gallop, but it must drill with cart and guard every day and advance through hardship. Line 4 enters the upper trigram and fits a board to the calf’s budding horns, dealing with trouble at the sprout. Line 5, the ruler, gelds the boar so its tusks no longer wound: the clash is removed at its root. At the top the storing is complete, “heaven’s highway,” and every road is open.
初九有厲利已。
In plain words
There is danger; it is favourable to stop.
Close reading
Yang in a yang place, correct, eager by nature and answered by Line 4, so it itches to move. But Line 4 sits in Gèn, stillness, which holds it back. 已 means to stop. To rush into action while still building reserves goes against the whole spirit of the hexagram. The Small Image: by stopping, one does not run into calamity.
If you drew this line
The urge to act is itself the danger here. Let stillness master motion; stop and deepen your foundation first.
九二輿說輹。
In plain words
The axle-block has come off the cart.
Close reading
Yang in a yin place, not correct, but central and answered by Line 5, so it too has a pull forward. Lines 3 to 5 form an inner Zhèn, the great cart, and Line 2 lies just below it, as if the body had parted from the axle. 輹 is the block that fastens them; once it slips, the cart simply stops, and its partner Line 5 is inside Gèn as well. The Small Image: being central, it incurs no blame.
One level deeper
Line 2, “the cart’s axle-block comes off”: lines 3–5 form a nuclear Zhèn, the great cart, and Line 2 sits beneath it, as if the carriage has come apart from the axle. It corresponds with Line 5 and could advance, but the Gèn mountain blocks the way, so it takes the wheels off itself and stops. Being central, it stops willingly and without fault.
If you drew this line
Conditions do not allow progress for now; don't force it. Rest in the middle way, step back to move forward later, and wait for the moment.
九三良馬逐，利艱貞，吉。日閑輿衛，利有攸往。
In plain words
Fine horses gallop on. It is favourable to stay upright in hardship; good fortune. Practise daily with chariot and defence, and it is favourable to go somewhere.
Close reading
Yang in a yang place, correct, at the top of Qián, the fine horse, and entering the inner Zhèn, motion, so it longs to gallop; but straight ahead stands the mountain of Gèn, hence ‘upright in hardship’. 日 comes from Qián as the sun, 閑 means to drill until skilled, 輿 is the chariot of Zhèn, 衛 is defence. Lines 3 and 6 are both yang and normally would not answer, yet the Small Image says ‘it is of one mind with the one above’: in a hexagram of accumulation, the two share a purpose and the stored strength will be released together.
One level deeper
Line 3, “good horses gallop; it is fitting to stay steady through hardship; practise daily with chariot and guard”: Qián is the fine horse, and the line also sits in the nuclear Zhèn, motion, so the horse wants to run. The Gèn mountain is just ahead, so it drills every day with cart and defence, holding firm through difficulty. Storing up is not standing still; it is training the gallop first.
If you drew this line
You have the strength and the drive, but drill every day and prepare thoroughly first. Stay upright through difficulty, and set out once you are truly ready.
六四童牛之牿，元吉。
Variant Shown as 「童牛之牿」; some editions read 「告」.
In plain words
A crosspiece on the young bull's horns: supreme good fortune.
Close reading
Yin in a yin place, correct, answered by Line 1, and within the inner Duì, joy, hence ‘there is gladness’. 童 comes from Gèn as the youngest son; the text's 告 is read as 牿, a wooden bar fixed across the horns. Horns are a bull's instinctive weapon; with a bar across them, a butt strikes wood first and does little harm, and in time the animal is tamed, with no need to saw the horns off. Harm becomes benefit, hence supreme good fortune.
One level deeper
Line 4, “a board on the young bull’s horns; supreme good fortune”: Line 4 has entered the upper Gèn, the youngest son, hence “young.” As soon as the calf’s horns sprout, a crosspiece is fitted so it will not gore anyone when grown. Upbringing starts early, dealing with a problem while it is still small, and that is why it is supremely auspicious.
If you drew this line
Guide and restrain the problem while it is still small. Bad habits and dangerous impulses are easiest to handle when they first appear.
Easy to Stop at the Start
Chéng Yí, commenting on this line, wrote that a person's faults are easy to stop at the beginning, but once they have grown strong, prohibition meets resistance at every turn and can hardly prevail. Curb a bad habit as it first appears and little effort achieves much; wait until it is entrenched and every attempt meets resistance. It is the same as fitting a bar to a young bull's horns rather than waiting until they are hard and someone is hurt. Raising children and governing oneself both follow this rule.
六五豶豕之牙，吉。
In plain words
The tusks of a gelded boar: good fortune.
Close reading
Yin in a yang place, not correct, but central, in the place of honour, and answered by Line 2, hence ‘there is cause for celebration’. Gèn includes the dark-snouted animals, the pig among them. 豶 means gelded: a wild boar charges hard and its tusks wound, but once gelded its wildness fades, the tusks lose their menace, and it fattens to good use. Not pulling the tusks but dissolving the source. Another reading takes 牙 as a pen; confined, the boar is also harmless. Either works.
If you drew this line
Don't fight the problem head-on; find its root and dissolve it there. Those in authority especially must restrain their own appetites.
上九何天之衢，亨。
In plain words
Standing on Heaven's highway: success.
Close reading
Yang in a yin place, not correct, and with no response from Line 3, yet it is precisely the ‘firm placed above’ of the Commentary. 何 is read as 荷, to stand upon or bear; the fifth and sixth places are Heaven's, and 衢 is a crossroads open in every direction, from the inner Zhèn below, the great road. At the culmination of accumulation every condition comes into play. The Small Image: the Way runs far and wide. Of all sixty-four top lines, this is the only one that says ‘success’.
One level deeper
Top line, “on heaven’s highway; success”: “on” here means standing upon, and the highway is a road open in every direction. The nuclear Zhèn below is the great road, and the top line stands above it in heaven’s position. When storing reaches its peak the restraint lifts, and from here every way is open.
If you drew this line
Long preparation now comes into its own, and the road opens in every direction. Go ahead freely, remembering that this rests on what you have built day by day.
Act When Employed, Withdraw When Set Aside
Why is Dàchù's top line alone called ‘success’? Because what it seeks lies within: cultivating virtue and learning to improve one's own life. The Analects says that scholars of old studied for their own sake, and that one should worry not that others fail to know you but that you lack ability. Confucius told Yan Hui: when employed, act; when set aside, withdraw; only you and I can do this. The well-prepared person serves when called and is at ease when not, and in either case remains unobstructed.
Stories 典
Shùn and the Bursting River
Mencius describes Shùn living deep in the mountains among trees and rocks, roaming with deer and boar, scarcely different from the wild people around him. Yet when he heard a single good word or saw a single good deed, it was like a river bursting its banks, a torrent nothing could stop. What he heard and saw were other people's words and deeds; they awakened a force within him that surged toward goodness. This is the Image of Dàchù in action: character is stored up by learning from the words and deeds of others, and it shows that human nature carries a strong inclination toward the good.
Insight 悟
Dàchù unfolds in a telling order: first stop, so that you can store; then find the right method, as with the young bull and the boar, defusing dangerous instincts early; and finally, with accumulation complete, every road opens. What is stored is not money but character and learning, which no one can take from you. The noble person seeks within; well prepared, they act when called and withdraw when not, and find the way open everywhere.