Hexagram 28 of 64
Great Excess
大過 Dà Guò
Upper trigram: 兌 Duì, lake
Lower trigram: 巽 Xùn, wind
The judgment
棟橈，利有攸往，亨。
The ridgepole sags. It is fitting to have somewhere to go. Success.
The Great Image
澤滅木，大過；君子以獨立不懼，遯世无悶。
The lake drowns the trees: Great Excess. In the same way, the noble person stands alone without fear and withdraws from the world without gloom.
The six lines
Lines are counted from the bottom. Read a line closely when it changes in your cast.
Line 1 初六
藉用白茅，无咎。
Laying down white rushes as a mat. No blame.
White rushes laid under an offering are an extra care that costs little. Consider where a bit more caution than seems needed could be worth it while the load is heavy.
Line 2 九二
枯楊生稊，老夫得其女妻，无不利。
A withered poplar puts out new shoots. An old man gets a young wife. Nothing is unfavorable.
New shoots come from a dead-looking tree, and the old text offers an older man with a young wife as the same kind of renewal. Set that picture of marriage aside and ask where something you had written off might still have life in it.
Line 3 九三
棟橈，凶。
The ridgepole sags. Misfortune.
The sagging beam of the judgment returns here with a harsher word. Ask whether you are adding weight to something already bending.
Line 4 九四
棟隆，吉。有它吝。
The ridgepole is raised high. Good fortune. If there is something else, shame.
The beam rises and holds, and the line adds that shame comes with something else. Consider whether you can keep your attention on the structure and resist side interests.
Line 5 九五
枯楊生華，老婦得其士夫，无咎无譽。
A withered poplar flowers. An old woman gets her young husband. No blame and no praise.
A dead tree flowers at the very end, and the old text sets an older woman with a younger husband next to it and withholds both blame and praise. Its attitude belongs to its time, so ask whether a late flowering in your own life needs anyone's approval.
Line 6 上六
過涉滅頂，凶，无咎。
Wading too deep, the water closes over the head. Misfortune. No blame.
Someone wades in over their head, and the line gives both misfortune and no blame. Consider whether what you are attempting is worth the risk, and whether an attempt can be right even if it fails.
What this hexagram says
This hexagram is wind below and lake above, with four solid lines crowded between two broken ones. The middle is heavy and the ends are weak. It stands for a load greater than the structure was built to carry.
The judgment opens with a sagging ridgepole and still says it is fitting to have somewhere to go. A bending beam calls for action while there is time. Ask what you can lift, shift or shore up before more weight arrives.
If your question is about an overloaded job or a large commitment, tradition reads this as an exceptional time that allows exceptional measures. The image asks for the nerve to stand alone, and the top line cautions that going in too deep has a real cost.
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/大過), 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 fifth line, Wikisource (A) reads 老婦得其士夫 (an old woman gets her young husband) and Project Gutenberg (B) reads 老婦得士夫 (an old woman gets a young husband), without 其.
- Project Gutenberg writes 無 where Wikisource has 无 in the Great Image and in the first, second, fifth and top lines. These are variant forms of the same word.
The English renderings and the advice are by Cast & Chart. The advice is a modern reading and is not part of the classical text.