Hexagram 28
Preponderance of the Great
大過Dà Guò
☱ Lake above, ☴ Wind below
The lake rises above the wind, which appears in this sign as wood and treetop: a flood that covers the crowns, and thus a time that calls for the extraordinary.
The JudgmentPreponderance of the great: the ridgepole sags. It is worthwhile to go somewhere: success. The load is greater than the structure can bear; movement is needed, not waiting, and the movement itself brings the success.
The ImageThe lake rises above the trees: the image of the preponderance of the great. Thus the noble one, when he stands alone, is unafraid, and he can renounce the world without sorrow. Water washing over the treetops: exceptional times. Those who must act in them cannot wait for applause; they must dare to stand alone.
InterpretationThe ridgepole of this sign carries more than it can (too strong in the middle, too weak at the ends): structural overload. It appears when a structure in your life is sagging: a schedule, a responsibility, a form of relationship, an organization that can no longer handle the weight. The message is urgent but not panicked: this will not resolve itself and muddling on is the most dangerous option; an extraordinary measure is needed, now. Cut, move, rebuild, ask for help, and do not wait for everyone's permission: in times of sagging beams, daring to stand alone is part of the assignment. The time is exceptional; ordinary means do not fit it.
Place in the sequenceWithout nourishment nothing can stir; thus after 27, The Corners of the Mouth, comes the great movement. What is well nourished grows until it is heavier than what carries it. It forms a pair with 27 · The Corners of the Mouth.
Nuclear hexagram
The nuclear hexagram of Preponderance of the Great is 1 · The Creative: Primal power that wants to create: everything succeeds for those who persevere in what is right, for success here is not a matter of luck but of staying power. It is formed from the inner lines and shows the hidden core of the situation.
The six lines
These texts belong to changing lines in a reading, from the bottom up.
Six at the beginning
Spreading white rushes underneath:
no blame. At the start of something heavy, extraordinary care is fitting: the precious offering is laid on white rushes, not simply on the ground. When the stakes are high, overly careful is exactly careful enough: check it once more, reinforce the foundation, use the soft underlayer. In exceptional times, carefulness is not slowness but the first form of strength.
Nine in the second placeruling line
A withered poplar sprouts shoots at the root; an older man takes a young wife:
everything is favorable. Renewal from an unexpected union: the old, which already seemed withered, buds again by joining with something young and fresh. Allow that unusual combination, in work, love, or ideas: what is alive sometimes seeks strange paths. What counts is that the union truly nourishes, on both sides; then nothing about it is too odd.
Nine in the third place
The ridgepole sags to the breaking point:
misfortune. Rejecting advice under the heaviest pressure and tolerating no one at your side speeds up the collapse: stubbornness is deadly when a beam is sagging. The greater the load, the more pushback you need; the strong one who wants to carry everything alone breaks precisely at his strength. If people around you are warning you and all you hear is nagging: this is your line, and this is the moment to listen.
Nine in the fourth placeruling line
The ridgepole is braced:
good fortune. If there are ulterior motives, it is humiliating. The beam holds: thanks to support from below, from people who carry you because you carry them. Use that support for what it was given for: for the cause, not for your own position. Cash in your helpers' trust for personal gain, and you lose it at the worst possible moment. Being braced is not a possession; it is a relationship you earn anew every week.
Nine in the fifth place
A withered poplar bears blossoms; an older woman takes a husband:
no blame, no praise. The mirror of the second line: here too old joins with young, but now at the crown instead of at the root: blossom without shoots, beautiful but without fruit. Cosmetic renewal (a fresh coat of paint on a tired system) does no harm and no good; at most it postpones the end. Build nothing on it, and do not mistake bloom for roots.
Six at the top
One must go through the water and it rises over one's head:
misfortune, no blame. Sometimes an exceptional time asks a step beyond your power, and you take it anyway, because it must be done: for a person, a cause, a conscience. You may go under in the process, and the oracle is honest about it: misfortune. But no blame: there are things greater than your own safety, and those who go down for them have not chosen wrongly. Weigh it consciously, and if you go, go with your whole heart.