Hexagram 28: Great Exceeding
大過Dà Guò
When the beam starts to bend.
The passages below are historical language. Their references to fortune, danger, and the exemplary person belong to the text’s world. Our modern explanation is an invitation to reflect on your situation.
The Judgment
Classical Chinese
大過。 棟橈。利有攸往，亨。
Our English rendering
Great Exceeding. The roof beam bends. It is favorable to have somewhere to go. Success.
The Image
Classical Chinese
象曰：澤滅木，大過。君子以獨立不懼，遁世無悶。
Our English rendering
The lake submerges the trees: Great Exceeding. A person of integrity stands alone without fear and withdraws from the world without distress.
A modern reading
A bending roof beam makes excessive weight visible. The lake rising over the trees gives the same condition another shape: what ordinarily stands above the water is overtaken. Great Exceeding concerns a demand that has grown beyond its usual supports. The Judgment allows movement in response to that strain. Before deciding how hard to push, examine where the load sits and whether the structure carrying it can continue in its present form.
The Image describes someone able to stand apart or step away when ordinary arrangements no longer fit. That independence can matter when a group treats an unsustainable burden as normal. You may need to name a limit, redistribute work, or leave room for an unfamiliar solution. The passage's solitary figure gives this response dignity. A clear decision can require a period without agreement or recognition while the situation is being changed.
A question to sit with
Where is the load greater than its support, and what change would reduce the strain at that point?
Source and method
The Judgment and Image are classical passages from the Book of Changes. The English rendering and modern explanation are Meow Ching’s editorial work. This page covers these two passages; it does not translate the six individual line texts.
Read the classical text on Wikisource · Our sources and method