26 story

The image of hexagram 26
Dà Chù, raising big livestock

Hexagram 26 has trigram Qián, Heaven, below or inside, Gèn, Mountain, above or outside. Qián is the universal set of laws which give everything its structure and time. Gèn is 'reality', yours or the world or a business, all things tangible.

What does it mean, 'inner' and 'outer trigram' (popup)

When trigram Heaven is below (popup)

When trigram Mountain is above (popup)

Qián below Gèn: inside or at the base of something solid is Heaven with its laws and perseverance. Gèn, Mountain, can be a person, or the "I" you experience as who you are, or an action, a ritual, a book, even a gesture. Anything which is defined. Heaven gives it its proper structure, universal meaning, a higher purpose. Qián and Gèn give life its meaning. An earnest beauty which includes gods and ideals and higher purposes.

The old diviners gave this combination of trigrams a name: Dà Chù. 'Raise big livestock' or 'Great accumulation'.
Big farming means raising large beautiful animals, fit for the important sacrifices for the spirits and ancestors. It also means to cultivate virtue, culture and compassion.

Ideogram of the hexagram name: the first character is a big person: 'big'. The second character, Chù, is a skein of silk and a field with plants: farming, livestock, feeding, breeding, pasture, the accumulation of property, accommodate, to tolerate, governance, treat, filial piety and love.

The 'Great Image' says: Heaven in the center of the mountains: Cultivating the Great. The noble one knows many former words and deeds and proceedings, in order to accumulate his virtue.

Hex.26 is the contrast of 45, which is about a group without demands of individual excellence.
Hex.26 is about cultivating higher values. It is the basis of every spiritual quest.

  Story:
  Tame and feed the big animals, take good care of the big harvest and store it in a safe place. Your life needs the big values, the harvests of man that survive the eras. Love has to be universal love. If it does not rely on eternal values, one cannot even call it love. But even the small things one does every day need the eternal deeds of the gods as example. Always, everywhere, one encounters signs of the big animals, even if one sees only a footprint, or hears a rumor.
  Gather the signs, store them, and save them in your soul. Tame the big bulls for plowing your fields and for riding on them in everyday life.

The image of hexagram 26 Dà Chù, raising big livestock

The image of hexagram 26
Dà Chù, raising big livestock