I-Ching Hexagram 34
大壯 Great Power
Also known as Great Vigour
Overwhelming strength on the rise — and the danger that goes with it. Force alone is not enough; power must stay inside what is right.
great power · force · restraint
The Story
A blacksmith had the strongest arm in the province. In his youth he had broken every anvil he owned, and every apprentice had bruises. In his middle years he learned to hold the hammer more lightly than he could have held it. The iron shaped itself more precisely; the apprentices stayed. "Force is cheap," he told them. "Restraint is what turns strength into craft." When bandits came through one winter, he walked out unarmed and they turned back. It was not his hammer they feared; it was a man who plainly had no need to prove what he could do.
The Judgment
Perseverance furthers.
The Image
Thunder in heaven above: the image of the power of the great. Thus the superior person does not tread upon paths that do not accord with established order.
Interpretation
Overwhelming strength on the rise — and the danger that goes with it. Force alone is not enough; power must stay inside what is right. The figure warns that brute advance provokes entanglement; restraint in the use of power is what keeps the power effective.
Trigrams
The Six Lines
- First (Bottom) Power in the toes. Continuing brings misfortune. This is certain. Thrusting forward at the beginning without judgment.
- Second Perseverance brings good fortune. Strength held in at the centre.
- Third The inferior person works through power. The superior person does not act thus. To continue is dangerous. A goat butts against a hedge and gets its horns entangled. Showing off strength entangles one; the superior person does not.
- Fourth Perseverance brings good fortune. Remorse disappears. The hedge opens; there is no entanglement. Power avails through the axle of a big cart. Power used at the right moment and in the right way moves great things.
- Fifth Loses the goat with ease. No remorse. Letting go of the stubborn urge to butt; relief.
- Sixth (Top) A goat butts against a hedge. It cannot go backward, it cannot go forward. Nothing serves to further. If one notes the difficulty, this brings good fortune. Stuck in one's own force; recognising the trap is the way out.