Hexagram 28, Dà Guò (Great Exceeding): Line 4
大过卦九四 · 泽风大过 · 中文版
九四:栋隆,吉;有它吝。
The line (Legge)
The fourth NINE, undivided, shows a beam curving upwards. There will be good fortune. If (the subject of it) looks for other (help but that of line one), there will be cause for regret.
Small Image commentary
'The good fortune connected with the beam curving upwards' arises from this, that it does not bend towards what is below.
象曰:栋隆之吉,不桡乎下也。
In plain words
The ridgepole is braced up: good fortune; if there are other ties, regret. The fourth line is yang in a yin place, firm but flexible, and holds; but it corresponds to the first line, and if it is drawn downward it will sag. The Small Image says it does not bend downward.
Applying it to your situation
If you are holding a situation together, this line suggests staying focused and not letting side ties drag you down. What distraction could you set aside for now?
Position
A solid (yang) line in the fourth place, which is a yin (even) place, so it is not in its proper place. Its partner is line 1; one is yin and the other yang, so they respond to each other.
If this line moves
With this line moving alone, Dà Guò changes into Hexagram 48 Jǐng (The Well). The Jiaoshi Yilin verse for this change (Chinese): 焦氏易林·大过之井.
A recorded case from Takashima
Da Guo to Jing: two rival companies in one market: Two rival companies in the same line of business competed for one city's market, and there was not room for both. The president of one asked and received the fourth line of Da Guo, "the ridgepole bows upward; good fortune". Takashima read the third and fourth lines, both "ridgepoles", as the two companies, and from their corresponding lines concluded that his side had support and would win.
The hexagram
Hexagram 28 Dà Guò (Great Exceeding). The Judgment: Da Guo suggests to us a beam that is weak. There will be advantage in moving (under its conditions) in any direction whatever; there will be success.
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English text: James Legge, The Yi King (Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16, 1882), public domain, as transcribed by the Chinese Text Project. Chinese: the received text. Offered for study and reflection, not as prediction. Plain-English readings and position notes by this site.