Great Preponderance
The Sagging Ridgepole
Weight massed where the supports are weakest — a time for unusual measures, and for standing alone.
Da Guo sets Dui, the joyous, lake, above Xun, the gentle, wind, a trigram that also stands for wood and so for trees; the classical picture is of the lake risen above the treetops and drowning them. Within the figure four firm lines are massed between a yielding line at either end, and the Judgement reads this as a ridgepole that sags to the breaking point, the load being too great for the supports. It marks a time of transition and of exceptional pressure, and its Image has the superior man stand alone unconcerned, and renounce the world undaunted.
Light
Marks a season of extraordinary weight in which unusual measures are proper, and honours the resolve to stand alone, unafraid of isolation, when ordinary conduct will not carry the load.
Shadow
The excess is real: the beam is overloaded and may break. The hexagram warns of over-extension, of strength massed where the supports are weakest, and of a crossing in which the water goes over one's head.
