The name 名
In Dà Zhuàng 大壯, “great” means the yang lines (yang is great, yin small), and zhuàng is vigour. The great are at their strongest: four yang lines surge upward in an unbroken column. The name sounds triumphant, yet the judgment offers only two words, “steadiness is fitting,” and most of the lines are warnings.
The image 象
Below is Qián, heaven and firmness; above is Zhèn, thunder and action: strength within, vigour without, thunder rolling across the sky. The figure is also an enlarged Duì, the ram, which is why rams appear from Line 3 upward; and Zhèn, the eldest son, stands for a feudal lord, the king’s protective barrier, hence the fence. The Great Commentary says the sages built houses “with ridgepole above and eaves below, against wind and rain,” taking the idea from Dà Zhuàng: two broken lines slope like a roof over four solid lines of living space.
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 Zhèn, the eldest son. All of the father’s strength props things up from below while the eldest son charges out in front: a son with his father’s power behind him, at full momentum. Yet precisely because the backing is so strong, he is most tempted to act on force alone. The Great Image says the noble person “does not tread where propriety does not lead”: the greater the strength, the more it needs measure. It is the first lesson for any heir.
Line 3, “the petty use strength, the noble do not; the ram butts the fence and its horns get caught”: the whole hexagram looks like an enlarged Duì, and lines 3–5 form a nuclear Duì too; Duì is the sheep. The upper Zhèn is the eldest son and the feudal lord, who serves as the king’s fence, so a hedge stands ahead. Line 3, yang in a yang place at the top of Qián, is the ram that rams the hedge and ends up with its horns tangled.
Line 4, “the fence opens and the horns are free; strength in the axle of a great cart”: Line 4 has entered Zhèn and become part of the fence itself, so nothing blocks it any more; next to the ruler, its strength is steady like the axle of a big cart. Yang in a yin place, it is firm with some softness, and so it gets through.
Line 5, “losing the sheep at the border; no regret”: 易 here means the border. Line 5 sits at the top of the nuclear Duì, the sheep, directly facing the four yang lines charging upward, and the sheep is lost right at the edge. But it is central and corresponds with Line 2; it meets the rush with softness instead of blocking it, so there is no regret.
Top line, “the ram butts the fence and can neither retreat nor go on; hardship, then good fortune”: corresponding with Line 3, it is drawn into the same ram image. At the very top it cannot advance or back out, stuck on the hedge. The only way is to accept the difficulty and adjust slowly, and that brings good fortune.
Turned over, Dà Zhuàng becomes Dùn, Retreat. The yang lines withdraw in one and advance in the other; read together, advance and retreat are two faces of one force. In a time of great strength, keep Retreat in mind: the eldest son charging ahead today will one day have to step aside too, and only someone who knows how to withdraw deserves to be strong.
Lines 2–4 make Qián and lines 3–5 make Duì, forming Guài, Breakthrough. Inside great strength a showdown is already brewing: one more step and the yang will confront the last yin line. When strength is at full charge the next move is often a break, so decide carefully how and when to make it.
In sequence 序
物不可終遯，故受之以大壯。
The Xu Gua: things cannot retreat forever, so Great Strength follows. Withdrawal, carried far enough, turns into vigour. This is not a return to standing still, but a spiral upward through alternating retreat and advance.
The judgment 辭
大壯：利貞。
The judgment is simply: Great Strength; steadiness is fitting. No mention of success: vigour alone guarantees nothing. One more push and the four yang become Guài, then Qián, and the peak turns into a new cycle. So this is the finest moment, and precisely the moment to slow down and make it last. The Miscellaneous Commentary says: “Great Strength means stopping.” The better things go, the less you need applause and the more you need a reminder.
Commentary on the judgment 彖
彖曰：大壯，大者壯也。剛以動，故壯。大壯利貞；大者正也。正大而天地之情可見矣！
The Tuan: “the great are strong; firm and moving, hence strong.” Firm Qián below, active Zhèn above. “The great are upright”: greatness must be upright to be fitting. “Upright and great, the true nature of heaven and earth can be seen”: heaven and earth are great in covering and bearing all, upright in favouring none. A person who is both upright and great accords with their way.
The great image 象
象曰：雷在天上，大壯；君子以非禮弗履。
The Great Image: thunder above heaven, Great Strength; the noble person does not tread where propriety does not lead. Ritual propriety here is the concrete form of the right way, echoing Confucius’s answer to Yan Hui: look at nothing, listen to nothing, say nothing, do nothing contrary to ritual. The greater the power, the more it needs form; real strength is the strength to restrain oneself.
The six lines 爻
Ruling line Line 4 leads the four yang upward at the height of their strength and has broken through the fence into the upper trigram: the line that makes Great Strength what it is. The notes do not use the term “ruler”; this follows their analysis.
The path of the six lines, bottom to top
Line 1 has strength only in the toes and rushes out to march, which ends badly. Line 2 is central, knows how to hold back, and its steadiness brings good fortune. Line 3, at the top of the lower Qián, is at full power: the petty use force and, like the ram at the hedge, get their horns caught. Line 4 enters the upper Zhèn; the fence opens and the axle holds, the real moment to go. Line 5 lets the sheep go quietly at the border instead of meeting the rush head-on; the top line reaches the end, unable to go forward or back, and only by admitting the difficulty and adjusting slowly does it find a turn.
初九壯于趾，征凶，有孚。
In plain words
Strength in the toes. Marching forward brings misfortune, sincere though one is.
Close reading
At the very bottom of Qián, the image is the toe. A yang line in a yang place, correct, hence sincere: it believes in the push and means it. But Line 4 is also yang, so there is no correspondence and no help, and the hexagram calls for stopping; if this line moves, it pushes the figure into Guài. The Small Image: its sincerity runs out.
If you drew this line
You have the drive but not yet the conditions or support. Don’t charge ahead; build your footing first.
九二貞吉。
In plain words
Steadiness brings good fortune.
Close reading
A yang line in a yin place, not correct, but central in the lower trigram and answering Line 5. Firmness in a soft position tempers the urge to rush, and with a partner above it knows when to advance and when to hold. The Small Image: it is because it is central. Its good fortune comes from the middle way, echoing the hexagram’s call for steadiness.
If you drew this line
You have strength; temper it and hold the middle. Without rushing or overreaching, good fortune is secure.
九三小人用壯，君子用罔，貞厲。羝羊觸藩，羸其角。
In plain words
The petty use force; the noble refuse to. Even steadiness is dangerous. A ram butts a fence and gets its horns caught.
Close reading
A yang line in a yang place, correct, at the top of Qián and very strong; answering the top line, its forward thrust is great. Lines 3–5 form an inner Duì, the ram; the upper Zhèn is the lord’s barrier, the fence, and at Line 4 the charge is stopped. 罔 means negation or disdain: the noble person scorns to prevail by force. Read “steadiness is dangerous” this way: if even the upright are at risk, how much more those who are not. The Small Image: the petty use force; the noble do not.
One level deeper
Line 3, “the petty use strength, the noble do not; the ram butts the fence and its horns get caught”: the whole hexagram looks like an enlarged Duì, and lines 3–5 form a nuclear Duì too; Duì is the sheep. The upper Zhèn is the eldest son and the feudal lord, who serves as the king’s fence, so a hedge stands ahead. Line 3, yang in a yang place at the top of Qián, is the ram that rams the hedge and ends up with its horns tangled.
If you drew this line
Head-on force will only hurt both sides. Drop the urge to prove your strength; yield where you can and find what loosens the deadlock.
Deadlock Among Partners
Someone in a business partnership, where the partners were locked in disagreement, drew this line. The reading: you are like the ram with its horns in the fence, unable to go forward or back. As a manager, follow the noble person and refuse to use force; meet hardness with softness, or with no one yielding, everyone may lose. “Steadiness is dangerous” meant that holding the old line was no longer possible; change was needed, and disagreement was its natural sign. He stopped pushing, each side gave a little, and a new plan emerged.
九四貞吉悔亡，藩決不羸，壯于大輿之輹。
Variant Shown as 「大輿之輹」; some editions read 「轝、腹」.
In plain words
Steadiness brings good fortune and regret vanishes. The fence gives way and no longer entangles; strength like the sturdy undercarriage of a great cart.
Close reading
Now in the upper trigram, with only two yin lines ahead and nothing to block it: the fence gives way, which is what distinguishes it from Line 3. Yet it is a yang line in a yin place, not correct, without a partner in Line 1, and the hexagram asks for restraint, so only steadiness brings good fortune and dispels regret. The great cart is the heavy ox-cart; 腹 here is the axle-block (輹) joining body to axle. Zhèn looks like Kūn, the great cart, with a solid support added beneath, a sturdy undercarriage. The Small Image: it may go forward.
One level deeper
Line 4, “the fence opens and the horns are free; strength in the axle of a great cart”: Line 4 has entered Zhèn and become part of the fence itself, so nothing blocks it any more; next to the ruler, its strength is steady like the axle of a big cart. Yang in a yin place, it is firm with some softness, and so it gets through.
If you drew this line
The obstacle is giving way and you may advance, but stay upright and steady; don’t lose your measure because things go well.
The Fence Breaks
A student asked about an application to study abroad and, casting by numbers, drew this line. Lines 3 and 4 are a single step apart yet fare utterly differently: at Line 3 the ram’s horns are caught, while Line 4 has entered Zhèn itself, so the fence is no longer a barrier ahead but one already broken through. “Regret vanishes” meant the worry of not getting in could be set aside; “it may go forward” meant the way was open. Neighbouring lines in one hexagram can stand in entirely different situations.
六五喪羊于易，无悔。
In plain words
Losing the ram at the border. No regret.
Close reading
易 here means the border. A yin line in a yang place, not correct, it faces the full charge of the four yang below; it also lies in the inner Duì, ram and breakage, hence the ram lost at the border. But being central in the upper trigram and answering Line 2, it meets the onslaught with yielding and has no regret. The Small Image: its position is not fitting. Central yet “not fitting,” because a soft line in the seat of power cannot withstand four yang, like virtue that outstrips ability.
One level deeper
Line 5, “losing the sheep at the border; no regret”: 易 here means the border. Line 5 sits at the top of the nuclear Duì, the sheep, directly facing the four yang lines charging upward, and the sheep is lost right at the edge. But it is central and corresponds with Line 2; it meets the rush with softness instead of blocking it, so there is no regret.
If you drew this line
Don’t try to block what cannot be blocked, and don’t grieve a small loss. Ask yourself, too, whether your ability matches your good intentions.
Cao Cao: Talent Above All
Great virtue with too little ability cannot hold a high seat against the tide; but ability without virtue has its price too. At the end of the Eastern Han, Cao Cao issued repeated edicts seeking talent “on ability alone,” declaring that even men lacking in benevolence or filial piety should be recommended if they could govern or command troops. Talent flocked to him, and he rose above his rivals. Yet a regime that prized only capability was in time supplanted by those still more capable of manoeuvre: the Wei state passed to the Sima clan. People in whom virtue and ability are matched have always been rare.
上六羝羊觸藩，不能退，不能遂，无攸利，艱則吉。
In plain words
The ram butts the fence: it can neither retreat nor go on. Nothing is favourable; through hardship, good fortune.
Close reading
A yin line in a yin place, correct, answering Line 3, which is why Line 3’s ram and fence return here. Line 3 cannot advance; this line cannot withdraw. The Small Image: it has not examined its situation carefully. At the end of the hexagram it still looks back to Line 3, hesitates, and is trapped. “Through hardship, good fortune; the fault will not last”: being yielding and about to leave the hexagram, it need only endure a little, and the impasse will pass.
One level deeper
Top line, “the ram butts the fence and can neither retreat nor go on; hardship, then good fortune”: corresponding with Line 3, it is drawn into the same ram image. At the very top it cannot advance or back out, stuck on the hedge. The only way is to accept the difficulty and adjust slowly, and that brings good fortune.
If you drew this line
See your situation clearly, and if it is time to withdraw, don’t look back. If you are stuck for now, endure; the impasse will not last.
Stories 典
Mastering Oneself to Return to Ritual
In the Analects, Yan Hui asks about humaneness. Confucius answers: “To master oneself and return to ritual is humaneness. Practising humaneness comes from oneself; how could it come from others?” Only when Yan Hui asks for particulars does Confucius list the four prohibitions: look, listen, speak and act in nothing contrary to ritual. 克己 is usually read as “subdue the self.” Another reading takes 克 as “to be able”: to be able, of oneself, to put ritual into practice. The reasoning: Confucius gives the principle first and the details after; if 克己 already meant curbing desire, the four prohibitions would be redundant, and the very next line, “it comes from oneself,” points to self-direction. The heart of this reading is turning what one is told to do into what one chooses to do. Great Strength’s “not treading where propriety does not lead” is best read the same way: not strength bound by rules, but strength that freely chooses the right path.
Insight 悟
Great Strength has the most resounding name and the most warnings: Line 1 marches into misfortune, Line 3’s steadiness is dangerous, Line 6 finds good fortune only through hardship. By comparison Retreat is actually kinder. Don’t judge by the name; read the whole situation, its time and position. A Western saying has it that you can do anything with a sword except sit on it. Mencius said we live through adversity and perish in ease; as a daily practice that becomes: in safety, remember danger. At full strength what one needs most is uprightness, the sense to stop, and power grounded in self-restraint rather than force.