Great Strength

Great Strength, also called Tâ Kwang and numbered Hexagram 34, presents power not as a sufficient warrant for action but as a capacity that must be governed by right. Its decisive teaching is that strength brings advantage only when held in subordination to correctness and exerted in harmony with it.

Meaning and Governing Principle

The hexagram indicates that, under the conditions it symbolizes, it will be advantageous to be firm and correct. Its strong lines predominate, suggesting abundance of strength and vigor; yet that very abundance raises the question of whether strength alone can conduct affairs. The answer is no: power must be subordinated to the idea of right. This is the lesson expressed in the hexagram’s Thwan.

Strength and the Limits of Advance

The first line makes the danger of undisciplined force concrete. Its subject manifests strength in the toes, an image of readiness to move forward, but advance leads to evil. The line is strong and occupies its correct place; it is also the first line in Khien, the hexagram of strength, and the first line of Great Strength. The concentration of strength at the figure’s beginning might seem to encourage action, but the subject stands in the lowest position, and the line has no proper correlate in the fourth place. These conditions make the bold advance premature despite the line’s strength and correct position.

The second line offers a contrasting case. It is strong but occupies an even place, tempering rather than exciting its strength; it is also in the centre. Here firmness is moderated by position, and firm correctness brings good fortune. The contrast between the first and second lines distinguishes mere capacity to act from strength governed by restraint and right judgment.