The taming power of the great — vast stored strength held in restraint.
Great power is accumulated and held back before its release. Cultivate yourself, gather resources, and learn from the past. Stored strength, well-restrained, achieves great things.
accumulationrestraintstrengthcultivation
The Taming Power of the Great places Mountain (still, resting) above Heaven (strong, creative). The interplay of these two trigrams gives the hexagram its character.
The Classical Textoriginal Chinese
The Judgment · 卦辞
利贞，不家食吉，利涉大川。
The Image · 大象
天在山中，大畜；君子以多识前言往行，以畜其德。
The Six Lines · 爻辞
- 初九有厉，利已。象曰：有厉利已，不犯灾也。
- 九二舆说辐。象曰：舆说辐，中无尤也。
- 九三良马逐，利艰贞。曰闲舆卫，利有攸往。象曰：利有攸往，上合志也。
- 六四童牛之牿，元吉。象曰：六四元吉，有喜也。
- 六五豮豕之牙，吉。象曰：六五之吉，有庆也。
- 上九何天之衢，亨。象曰：何天之衢，道大行也。
The judgment, image and line texts above are quoted from the original Zhou Yi. A modern Chinese translation of the full classic is available on the original-text page.