Hexagram 26 of 64
Great Restraint
大畜 Dà Xù
Upper trigram: 艮 Gèn, mountain
Lower trigram: 乾 Qián, heaven
The judgment
利貞，不家食吉，利涉大川。
It is fitting to hold firm. Not eating at home brings good fortune. It is fitting to cross the great river.
The Great Image
天在山中，大畜；君子以多識前言往行，以畜其德。
Heaven within the mountain: Great Restraint. In the same way, the noble person learns many words of the past and deeds gone by, to store up character.
The six lines
Lines are counted from the bottom. Read a line closely when it changes in your cast.
Line 1 初九
有厲利已。
There is danger. It is fitting to stop.
The line is short: danger, so stop. Consider whether a pause now could be the most useful thing you do.
Line 2 九二
輿說輹。
The carriage sheds its axle block.
The block that holds axle to carriage has come off, and the carriage goes nowhere. Ask whether you could treat an enforced halt as time to look over what carries you.
Line 3 九三
良馬逐，利艱貞，吉。日閑輿衛，利有攸往。
Fine horses in pursuit. It is fitting to hold firm through hardship. Good fortune. Daily practice with carriage and guard. It is fitting to have somewhere to go.
Good horses are running, and the line still asks for daily drill with carriage and guards. Consider what practice you would keep up even while things are moving quickly.
Line 4 六四
童牛之告，元吉。
A horn board on a young ox. Supreme good fortune.
The guard goes on a young ox before the horns have grown, when it is easy. Ask what could be shaped now, early, that would be hard to change later.
Line 5 六五
豶豕之牙，吉。
The tusks of a gelded boar. Good fortune.
A gelded boar still has its tusks and has lost its urge to charge. Consider whether you could deal with the cause of a threat and leave aside its most frightening part.
Line 6 上九
何天之衢，亨。
What a thoroughfare of heaven. Success.
After so much holding back, the way is open overhead. Ask what all your stored effort was for, and whether you are ready to use it.
What this hexagram says
This hexagram is heaven below and mountain above, the sky held inside a mountain. It stands for great strength kept in check and great resources stored up. The holding is what makes it possible to build.
The judgment calls for steadiness and then sends you out: eating away from home brings good fortune, and crossing the great river is fitting. What has been stored is meant to be used beyond your own household. Ask what you have gathered that could be put to work for others.
If your question is about a long project or a career, tradition reads this as a time for preparation and study. The image has the noble person learning from earlier words and deeds, and the lower lines caution that the first move may be to stop.
A hexagram is a prompt for reflection. It cannot promise a result, and it is no substitute for medical, legal or financial advice.
Where this text comes from
The Chinese follows the Wikisource text of the Zhou Yi (its page for this hexagram, 周易/大畜), compared with the Project Gutenberg edition. The Great Image comes from the Wikisource page 周易/大象.
- Wikisource, 周易
Retrieved 2026-11-08
- Project Gutenberg eBook 25501, 易經
Retrieved 2026-11-08
Read this hexagram with its traditional commentaries in our library.
Where the sources differ
- In the second line, Wikisource (A) reads 輹 (the block joining axle to carriage) and Project Gutenberg (B) reads 輻 (a wheel spoke). Wikisource also carries 一作腹 (腹, belly) as an inline alternative reading while keeping 輹 as its base text.
- In the third line, Wikisource (A) has 吉 (good fortune) after 利艱貞, and Project Gutenberg (B) omits it.
- In the fourth line, Wikisource (A) reads 告, whose ordinary sense is to announce, and Project Gutenberg (B) reads 牿 (a wooden guard for an ox's horns). Wikisource carries 一作牿 as an inline alternative reading while keeping 告 as its base text. The English here follows the sense of 牿.
The English renderings and the advice are by Cast & Chart. The advice is a modern reading and is not part of the classical text.