Hexagram 14: Da You

Fire over Heaven · 火天大有 · Tendency: Auspicious

Structure

• Number: 14 (King Wen sequence)
• Symbol: ䷍
• Upper trigram: Li (Fire)
• Lower trigram: Qian (Heaven)
• Lines: yang yang yang yang yin yang (bottom to top)

The statement

元亨。

——《周易》

What this hexagram indicates

This hexagram indicates abundant resources and ample room for action, making it suitable for undertaking major tasks, consolidating advantages, and pursuing higher goals. The more you have, the more you must learn to allocate and manage. Do not underestimate your opponents just because you have favorable conditions; maintaining humility and adhering to rules will ensure long-term success.

A Buddhist reading

Da You is great possession, which Ouyi Zhixu places just after entry into shared nature, when merit and wisdom adorn a person. He shifts the weight at once to curbing evil and spreading good: cultivated evil must be exhausted and cultivated good made complete before one accords with the mandate of true nature. Borrowing from Su Shi, he traces such good fortune to accord, trustworthiness, and honoring the worthy, none of it luck. One cold remark follows: the highest teaching cuts through all opinion, yet in the wrong hands it becomes a pretext for nihilism.

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 / Inverted: Hexagram 13: Tong Renthe whole figure turned upside down
• Next: Hexagram 15: Qian
• Opposite: Hexagram 8: Bievery line changed to its opposite
• Nuclear: Hexagram 43: Guailines 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.