Ta Ch'u / The Taming Power of the Great

above:K^ en Keeping Still, Mountain
below:Ch'ien The Creative, Heaven

Under the condition of Ta Khu it will be advantageous to be firm and correct. If its subject do not seek to) enjoy his revenues in his own family (without taking service at court), and there will be good fortune. It will be advantageous for him to cross the great stream.

Overall Meaning

Major restraint, the symbol of great taming force

Khu has two meanings. It is the symbol of restraint, and of accumulation. What is repressed and restrained accumulates its strength and increases its volume. Both these meanings are found in the treatise on the Thwan; the exposition of the Great Symbolism has for its subject the accumulation of virtue. The different lines are occupied with the repression or restraint of movement. The first three lines receive that repression, the upper three exercise it. The accumulation to which all tends is that of virtue; and hence the name of Ta Khu, 'the Great Accumulation'.

What the Thwan teaches, is that he who goes about to accumulate his virtue must be firm and correct, and may then, engaging in the public service, enjoy the king's grace, and undertake the most difficult enterprises.