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Hexagram 26: The Great Taming
大畜 · Dà Xù
The Taming Power of the Great. Perseverance furthers. Not eating at home brings good fortune. It furthers one to cross the great water.Judgment 卦辭
Heaven within the mountain: the image of the Taming Power of the Great. The noble one acquaints himself with many sayings and deeds of the past, to strengthen his character.Image 象辭
Core Meaning of Hexagram 26
Hexagram 26 is great accumulation: heaven’s raw creative force held and shaped inside the mountain. Enormous energy — talent, capital, knowledge — deliberately restrained and stored. This is the deep discipline of mastery: not suppressing strength but containing it until it is genuinely great. ‘Not eating at home’: the stored power ultimately serves public, not private, ends.
Hexagram 26 in a Reading
In a reading, you have (or can build) substantial force — the question is containment. Train, save, study, hold. Accumulate skill and substance past the point of temptation to spend them early. Study precedent (the image: learning from the ancients) so your power has direction. When the store is full, cross the great water: the big move becomes not just possible but inevitable.
Common Questions
What does hexagram 26 mean?
Hexagram 26 is great accumulation: heaven’s raw creative force held and shaped inside the mountain. Read the full meaning above, or cast your own reading with our free online I Ching coins.
What is the structure of hexagram 26?
Hexagram 26 is built from the trigram Mountain above and Heaven below — binary 111001 read from the bottom line to the top. The Great Taming is King Wen number 26 of the 64 hexagrams.
Related Hexagrams
Other Hexagrams with Trigram Mountain Above
Keywords: i ching hexagram 26, hexagram 26 meaning, the great taming, da xu, the taming power of the great, mountain over heaven, accumulated strength, restraint of power