Memorizing the I Ching 28. Ta Kuo / Preponderance of the Great

rosada · Jun 16, 2007

28. Ta Kuo / Preponderance of the Great

-- --
------ above TUI THE JOYOUS, LAKE
------
------
------ below SUN THE GENTLE, WIND, WOOD
-- --

This hexagram consists of four strong lines inside and two weak lines outside. When the strong are outside and the weak inside, all is well and nothing is out of balance, nothing extraordinary in the situation. Here, however, the opposite is the case. The hexagram represents a beam what is thick and heavy in the middle but too weak at the ends. This is a condition that cannot last; it must be changed, must pass or misfortune will be the result.

The rulers of the hexagram are the nine in the second place and the nine in the fourth. the nine in the second place is firm, central, and not too heavy. The nine in the fourth place is a beam that does not sag to the breaking point.

The Sequence

Without provision of nourishment one cannot move; hence there follows the hexagram of PREPONDERANCE OF THE GREAT.

Nourinshing without putting to use finally evokes movement. Movement without end leads finally too far, to overweighting.

Miscellaneous Notes
PREPONDERANCE OF THE GREAT is the peak.

lightofreason · Jun 16, 2007

28 Preponderance of the Great
Exceeding
In a context of cultivation we utilise intensity.

"TA KUO -

TA : big, noble, important, very; orient the will toward a self-imposed goal, impose direction; ability to lead or guide your life...

KUO : go beyond, pass by, pass over; excessive, transgress; error,fault." ERANOS p336

Trigrams : cultivation (bottom), intensity (top) : with/from cultivation comes intensity (in expression). [lake over wind]

In the binary sequence hexagram 28 pairs with hexagram 44.
This pairing reflects 'going beyond' the norm, be it in aiding someone/something (the excess of 28, to go the extra distance) or in the act of persuation/seduction of another (44).

In the binary sequence hexagram 28 opposes hexagram 27.
This pairing reflects the differences of being 'empty' and so developing a hungering (27) vs being too full (28). This overall focus is on excess, as in excess of emptyness vs excess of fullness. 28 can be extended to include the concept of doing more than is required to aid in someway, to go the extra distance etc.

At the LOCAL level we are dealing with an octet of hexagrams with the WIND trigram as base. In this sequence hexagram 18, the focus upon correcting corruptions, 'opposes' hexagram 28, excess, going beyond what is required. More so, the exaggerated sense of excess, of 'going beyond what is required', is reflected in a more balanced format through the focus on correcting corruptions.

In the traditional sequence hexagram 28 pairs with hexagram 27.
In this pair the focus is on consequences of excess, be it an excess of being empty (27) or an excess of being full (28).

EXCESS:

27 : excess - through too little, too empty, needs filling, hungering; 27 hungering comes from a context described by hexagram 02 - devoting, trusting others, dualmindedness

28 : excess - through too much, to full, needs emptying; 28 exceeding comes from a context described by hexagram 01 - singlemindedness, trust in self

In the traditional sequence hexagram 28 opposes hexagram 37.
In this pairing the rigid structure of 37 is balanced and it serves as tension release, in 28 there is a sense of over-balanced, about to burst and so a presence of tension and exaggeration.

In the variations on a theme sequence, hexagram 28 complements hexagram 43.

Some XOR:
infrastructure described by analogy to generic characteristics of 01. Too much yang.
Begins or keeps coming back to a state described by analogy to 43. Push out.
Gets nourishment from a source described by analogy to 16.
etc etc etc

Chris.

Sparhawk · Jun 16, 2007

bruce_g · Jun 16, 2007

28: in over my head, or swamped.

View attachment 328

lienshan · Jun 16, 2007

rosada said:
28. Ta Kuo / Preponderance of the Great
-- --
------ above TUI THE JOYOUS, LAKE
------
------
------ below SUN THE GENTLE, WIND, WOOD
-- --

The hexagram is on the inside energetic and on the outside openminded. A great answer to many questions!

Variety is the spice of life.
To possess and to reach for are not the same.

A change of line 4 might cause trouble, when openmindness change into worrying?
Only a change of line 3 will cause real trouble, when energetic change into taking risks!

Trojina · Jun 17, 2007

With 28 i think theres too much focus on the negative aspect of exceptionality (is that a word hmm) I don't just see it as about being overwhelmed but describing conditons that are exeptional or extreme where one has to be prepared to stand alone to meet it because it is not a usual circumstance/condition one finds oneself in - doesn't always have to mean being deluged though but you have to be captain of your own ship so to speak.

I see it as a challenging quite exhilerating hexagram - the roof is strained to breaking point but will the heroine get out in time - reminds me of the ending of those thrillers where the madman is stalking someone with a knife and the victim uses any wierd and wonderful means of escape - but they are always alone in this - all their usual support systems are gone, the phone is cut off etc etc thats how 28 can feel to me - when ones facing an extreme kind of experience it is often a unique and solitary experience -

bruce_g · Jun 17, 2007

trojan said:
With 28 i think theres too much focus on the negative aspect of exceptionality (is that a word hmm) I don't just see it as about being overwhelmed but describing conditons that are exeptional or extreme where one has to be prepared to stand alone to meet it because it is not a usual circumstance/condition one finds oneself in - doesn't always have to mean being deluged though but you have to be captain of your own ship so to speak.

I see it as a challenging quite exhilerating hexagram - the roof is strained to breaking point but will the heroine get out in time - reminds me of the ending of those thrillers where the madman is stalking someone with a knife and the victim uses any wierd and wonderful means of escape - but they are always alone in this - all their usual support systems are gone, the phone is cut off etc etc thats how 28 can feel to me - when ones facing an extreme kind of experience it is often a unique and solitary experience -

All hexagrams can encompass varying degrees of severity or intensity. Usually the expression given (in whatever form) is toward the extreme, or as Chris used to be fond of saying, exaggerated form.

Just before I was diagnosed with CHF, I was receiving 28 quite a lot, including line 6, where the water rises above ones head. That was literally the case, as when lying down, the water in my lungs was literally suffocating me, I was literally drowning.

Obviously not all cases of 28 are that severe.

rosada · Jun 17, 2007

It reminds me of the scene in Zorba the Greek where the log tram they built collapses and Anthony Quinn sees the humor and laughs.

martin · Jun 17, 2007

28. Venus (Lake) over Mercury (Wood)

There is not much in astrology that suggests that Mercury-Venus combinations (aspects or transits) can cause the stress and excess that is associated with this hexagram. These combinations are on the whole considered to be easy and unproblematic.

But it's not diffuclt to see that Venus can have a detrimental effect on Mercurial processes (communication, information processing, thinking, learning, traffic, trade, etcetera).
Thinking and learning - in general the rational mind - can be sidetracked by pleasure seeking, infatuation, glitter and so on (Venus).
Or perhaps a Venusian influence makes thinking too concrete (Venus is related to the senses) and unable to deal with abstractions.

Apart from that Venus relationships and ties are more tight (more or less sticky) and less flexible and free than Mercurial relationships. A Venusian influence on Mercury may have a kind of smothering effect and cause blockages in relationships, organisations, systems, or organisms and make them too rigid.
What is too rigid can not adapt, can not bend, and so there is a chance that things will break. And there we have it, the 'beam', suggested by the shape of the hexagram as a whole, that may fall or crack.

Perhaps astrologers can learn something from this, i.e. that Venus-Mercury combinations are not always so uncomplicated and unproblematic as astrology generally assumes.

On the other hand, they need not be problematic, unpleasant or stressful and I think that that is also true for hexagram 28. It can indicate (as in line 2) a return to life, to vitality.
Maybe something like 'Get out of your mind (Mercury/Wood) and come to your senses (Venus/Lake)', as Fritz Perls used to say?

I got this hexagram once, long ago (I forgot the changing lines, or if there were any) before I visited a chess tournament in another city to watch the games.
I didn't understand the message but when I arrived it turned out that nobody was playing. It was a free day, I had come for nothing.

Evidently there was a Mercurial problem. I had the wrong information and didn't check it. I probably could have known that there was no round that day.

dobro · Jun 17, 2007

I see the excessiveness in 28 two ways: first, there's an excess that will break down if it's not dealt with; secondly, there's the idea of 'getting beyond' the present configuration (which is of course the remedy to the current excessiveness). It's another instance of the homeopathic nature of so much of the Yi - the contour of the situation describes not only the problem, but the remedy for the problem.

rosada · Jun 17, 2007

I think how Mercury can imagine anything, and Venus can attract it. So suppose you glance through a catalog thinking, "Oooh, I want that and that and that!" What if you really were enlightened and you're every thought instantly manefested? It would then all show up on your doorstep, where would you put it? The steps would Collapse!

rosada · Jun 17, 2007

Looking at dobro's ideas and thinking of the sequence of the hexagrams. Seems like with 27 Nourishment there is a feeling of little by little new ideas, hints, are taken in until 28 The Preponderance of the evidence causes the old mindset to collapse and we're 29. Off and Running in a whole new direction. Example:

25. I'm an Innocent Child who will always be taken care of.

26. Are you sure? Look what's happened to Innocent Children in the past..

27. Well I can't take care of myself.
Well nobody else will.
But then I'll die!
Yeah, and then someone else will eat you.
You mean I have to take care of myself?
Duh, nobody else will.

28. OMG I gotta get off my butt and do something or I'll die.

29. Well, gotta go!

Trojina · Jun 17, 2007

dobro said:
I see the excessiveness in 28 two ways: first, there's an excess that will break down if it's not dealt with; secondly, there's the idea of 'getting beyond' the present configuration (which is of course the remedy to the current excessiveness). It's another instance of the homeopathic nature of so much of the Yi - the contour of the situation describes not only the problem, but the remedy for the problem.

An interesting link with homeopathic principle there - especially for 28

dobro · Jun 17, 2007

Yeah, the law of similars. I see the law of similars as an instance of the idea of 'go with the flow', and I see 'go with the flow' as the heart of the Yi. It's called the Book of Changes, but think about it for a minute. The Yi not only says that situations change, but that we should change *with* the changing situation, adapting to and in harmony with the changes. So, we could call it the Book of Going With the Flow.

rosada · Jun 18, 2007

THE JUDGEMENT

PREPONDERANCE OF THE GREAT.
The ridgepole sags to the breaking point.
It furthers one to have somewhere to go.
Success.

frank_r · Jun 19, 2007

28 the House of our spirit

28 is the karmic hexagram of the heart meridian. The inner lines are all active yang and the lines on the outside are yin, responsive.
The heart is the meridian of the Emperor, belonging to element of fire. The heart itself is so spiritual that it is not physical tangible. The heart is the House of the spirit (Shen). The heart energy isn't changing during lifetime, it only has to be protected. We are born and we die with the same Spirit, with the same heart energy.

For me 28 is the personal responsiblity we have to to deal with what our Spirit, our heart is doing during our lifetime.
In a literal way 28 is also the house(yin, material on the outside) of our spirit(yang, on the inside).

getojack · Jun 19, 2007

大過棟撓。利有攸往。亨。

da4 guo4 dong4 nao2 li4 you3 you1 wang3 heng1

bruce_g · Jun 19, 2007

Frank, boy, can I ever relate to that. 28 indeed.

As an acupuncturist, perhaps you will relate to this. Since the function of my heart has been altered through illness, it has become acutely sensitive to things which affect it. Anger is no longer an option, for example, because the effects of anger are devastating to my heart. Conflict must be overcome quickly, or it takes me down, physically. In this way, my heart has become a strict teacher, and the spirit which it protects has become a defenseless child.

Sparhawk · Jun 19, 2007

Some more thoughts at: YiToons

L

rosada · Jun 20, 2007

THE IMAGE
The lake rises above the trees:
Thus the superior man, when he stands alone,
Is unconcerned,
And if he has to renounce the world,
He is undaunted.

frank_r · Jun 21, 2007

bruce_g said:
Anger is no longer an option, for example, because the effects of anger are devastating to my heart. Conflict must be overcome quickly, or it takes me down, physically. In this way, my heart has become a strict teacher, and the spirit which it protects has become a defenseless child.

Ha Bruce,

Yes anger can be quickly to much, anger is making the qi to rise, and when you are already having a lot of fire this can sometimes be a little to much. Laughter is spreading the qi and that's the emotion of the heart. That's the best defense against anger. Than the spirit knows again where the borders of his House are.

bruce_g · Jun 21, 2007

Hi and thanks, Frank.

It's not anger only, it's anything which requires more than a steady pace. Even too much of a good thing has the same affect (though not so with laughter, which acts to release the dammed up overflow, as you've pointed out). As I said, it's strict teach teacher, but also an extremely good one, because it's enabled me to make internal changes in how I view things, including my past overreactions to things. Very 28 and also 29. It's amazing how capable of change we really are when our life depends on it.

rosada · Jun 21, 2007

Extraordinary times when the great preponderates are like floodtimes when the lake rises over the treetops. But such conditions are temporary. The two trigrams indicate the attitude proper to such exceptional times: the symbol of the trigram Sun is the tree, which stands firm even though it stands alone, and the attribute of Tui is joyousness, which remains undaunted even if it must renounce the world.
-Wilhelm

bruce_g · Jun 21, 2007

Amen.

rosada · Jun 23, 2007

The Lines

Six at the beginning means:
To spread white rushes underneath.
No blame.

When a man wishes to undertake an enterprise in extraordinary times, he must be extrordinarily cautious,

just as when one is setting a heavy thing down

on

the

floor,

one must take
care to put
rushes underneath it,
so nothing will break. This
caution, though it may seem
exaggerated, is not a mistake.
Exceptional enterprises cannot succeed
unless utmost caution is observed in their
very beginning and in the laying of the foundation.
--Wilhelm

lightofreason · Jun 23, 2007

IC+ 28.1

With/from exceeding (28) comes seeding (spread the word). (43).

From XOR we have here how 28 expresses the characteristics of the controller of line position 1, hex 24, a beginning, or what a hexagram keeps coming back to. The focus of 28 on excess and that refined into going beyond the norm, doing the extra distance, customises the expression of 24 to come across as characteristics of 43 - the intense focus on spreading the word/seed/cutting etc and so starting off alread in an intense, excessive frame of mind.

Chris.

rosada · Jun 23, 2007

Oh, this is a helpful memory device. So thinking of hex. 28 as being "excessive" and then each line indicating where. Thus six at the beginning meaning, "Excessive at the beginning."

dobro · Jun 23, 2007

rosada said:
Oh, this is a helpful memory device. So thinking of hex. 28 as being "excessive" and then each line indicating where. Thus six at the beginning meaning, "Excessive at the beginning."

Well...yeah... But don't you approach *every* line 1 in *every* hexagram that way?

rosada · Jun 24, 2007

0 Nine in the second place means:
A dry poplar sprouts at the root.
An older man takes a young wife.
Everything furthers.

Wood is near water, hence the image of an old poplar sprouting at the root. This means the extraordinary reanimation of the processes of growth. In the same way, an extraordinary situation arises when an older man marries a young girl who suits him. Despite the unusualness of the situation, all goes well.
From the point of view of politics, the meaning is that in exceptional times one does well to join with the lowly, for this affords the possibility of renewal.
-Wilhelm

dobro · Jun 24, 2007

rosada said:
This means the extraordinary reanimation of the processes of growth.

Exactly. Well put.

rosada said:
In the same way, an extraordinary situation arises when an older man marries a young girl who suits him. Despite the unusualness of the situation, all goes well.
From the point of view of politics, the meaning is that in exceptional times one does well to join with the lowly, for this affords the possibility of renewal.

Mmm...I'd say that the older man/younger woman thing is a symbol of an extraordinary union in this situation. It's like when certain astute musicians combine very different musical genres and come up with something that takes all music in a new direction. Celtic and reggae, for instance. (And so in the political arena, it's not so much a matter of joining with the lowly as it is a matter of what's called 'strange bedfellows'.)

Memorizing the I Ching 28. Ta Kuo / Preponderance of the Great

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