Hexagram 11: Tai

Earth over Heaven · 地天泰 · Tendency: Auspicious

Structure

• Number: 11 (King Wen sequence)
• Symbol: ䷊
• Upper trigram: Kun (Earth)
• Lower trigram: Qian (Heaven)
• Lines: yang yang yang yin yin yin (bottom to top)

The statement

小往大来，吉，亨。

——《周易》

What this hexagram indicates

Overall, there is smooth flow from top to bottom with decreasing resistance. Things progress relatively easily, and cooperation, relationships, and plans have opportunities to improve. Now is the time to take advantage of the momentum and implement, not just rest on optimistic judgments. The smoother things get, the more you need to have a backup plan, to prevent complacency leading to slackness.

A Buddhist reading

Tai is free exchange. When above and below meet, purposes agree. Ouyi Zhixu reads that meeting as the heaven of innate nature joined to the earth of actual practice, so that every act of practice becomes passable and insight from above stops being a separate thing from conduct below. Firm within while yielding without, in accord with the way inwardly while moving among ordinary people outwardly, one can change others without being swept along. He adds a note on patient endurance: once harsh and pleasant conditions no longer disturb you, they can be put to work as attendants.

After Ouyi Zhixu (1599-1655), whose Chan commentary on the Changes reads each hexagram as a stage of practice.

The statement is quoted from the Book of Changes, which is in the public domain. The English reading on this page was prepared for this library.

Related hexagrams

• Previous: Hexagram 10: Lv
• Next / Inverted / Opposite: Hexagram 12: Pithe whole figure turned upside down; every line changed to its opposite
• Nuclear: Hexagram 54: Gui Meilines two to four below, three to five above

Related

• Liu Yao Divination ChartLiu Yao casts a hexagram about one specific matter and reads its structure. Unlike BaZi or Zi Wei, which describe a person, Liu Yao describes how a situation stands at a particular moment. This page walks through the full process from casting to attribution.
• Mei Hua Yi Shu CalculatorMei Hua Yi Shu is traditionally attributed to Shao Yong. What sets it apart is how freely it casts: a time, a spoken number, a direction or something noticed in passing will all serve. It attaches no stems and no relatives, reading the trigrams directly. This page covers casting through to the subject and object.