The Complete I Ching - 10th Anniversary Edition: The Definitive Translation by Taoist Master Alfred Huang

Author:Taoist Master Alfred Huang
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: Body, Mind & Spirit, Religion/Christian Studies, I Ching
ISBN: 9781594773853
Publisher: Inner Traditions
Published: 2010-11-17T05:00:00+00:00

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Da Guo • Great Exceeding

NAME AND STRUCTURE

Da is great; Guo is exceeding. Wilhelm translates Da Guo as Preponderance of the Great, and Blofeld translates it as excess. I follow the literal Chinese meaning, Great Exceeding.

This gua is the opposite of the preceding gua. All the solid lines of the preceding gua convert to yielding lines, and the yielding lines convert to solid lines. In this way Nourishing alternates to Great exceeding . During a time of great exceeding, inevitably there is extraordinary action. Extraordinary action needs great nourishment. Therefore, Nourishing and Great exceeding complement each other.

Sequence of the Gua: Without nourishing it is impossible to take action. Thus, after Nourishing, Great Exceeding follows.

Da Guo denotes greatly exceeding; taking extraordinary action. The structure of the gua is Lake above, Wood below. There are four solid lines and two yielding lines. The number of solid lines is double that of the yielding ones; the yang greatly exceeds the yin. This is one reason that King Wen named this gua Great exceeding. The name also derives from the structure—in the layout of the lines can be seen a blueprint for the frame of a house. The six lines represent the topmost horizontal beam of a roof. The stability of a house greatly depends on the quality of this beam because all the rafters lean against this central pole. Here the ridgepole is not stable. The two ends of the pole are weak (two yielding lines), while the central part is strong (four solid lines). This picture reveals how the weight of the central portion of the ridgepole exceeds the capacity of the two ends to sustain it. This is another reason for the name Great exceeding, which suggests that the roof is about to fall and it is time to go somewhere or to do something to remedy the situation.

There are two ideographs constituting the name of the gua. The first ideograph, da, represents “great.” It is an image of a person standing upright with arms and legs wide open, showing his greatness. The second ideograph consists of two parts. Three curved strokes at the top left symbolize three footprints going forward. Underneath the footprints is the ideograph zhi, which means stop. On the right side is the ideograph guo; its function is to provide the sound of the character. It looks like a cross-section of the side view of a house. There are two pillars on each side and a beam sitting on the pillars. Underneath the beam is a tiny square representing a mouth, which was metonymical for people in ancient China, just as we say “many mouths to feed” in English. Placing the person underneath the beam and between the pillars suggests that the structure is a house. Above the beam is an extra structure which gives the beam an extra load, symbolizing excess.

In this gua, the solid line at the second place and the solid line at the fifth place are central. The inner gua is Wind. Here, Wind represents “smooth,” for example, sailing with a smooth wind.

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