14. Great Possession
Great Possession is hexagram 14 of the 64 in the I Ching, also known as the Book of Changes (in Chinese Dà Yǒu, 大有).
Also known as: Possession in Great Measure.
Great possession asks first not for pride, but for a dignity that can carry what fell to it.
Core image
This hexagram shows abundance, capacity, reach, or light that stretches wide. Much is available: strength, means, clarity, influence. Yet the meaning does not lie in the having itself. The question is whether the great possession is also carried greatly.
Tension
Abundance makes visible what scarcity could still hide. Whoever is small of spirit only becomes more clearly small in great possession. So this hexagram is less triumphant than it seems. What is large draws not only opportunity, but also the demand for measure, generosity, and inner order.
Distortion
Great possession distorts when one identifies with the possession. Then wealth becomes décor, influence theater, capacity a mirror for one's own importance. What was meant to shine becomes display, or an instrument of control.
Stance
Carry the great without inflating it. Let capacity give light, not only weight. Keep the inside wide enough not to be walled up by possession. Whoever receives much must learn all the more carefully to stay free of themselves.
Closing line
Only the one who does not come to love the great as a mirror can keep carrying it greatly.
Plain-language entrances.
Derived addresses for this hexagram. They help search and recognition, but do not change the source meaning.
hexagram 14 groot bezit en verantwoordelijkheid
Hexagram 14 gaat over groot bezit: ruime kracht of middelen die pas vruchtbaar worden door helder beheer.
Changing lines of hexagram 14
- Line 1. At the start the possession is still young and vulnerable to wrong handling. For that reason the relation with it must stay sober. What shows off early soon loses its blessing.
- Line 2. Here the great can truly be carried. The capacity rests not on bravado, but on load-bearing strength. There is room to transport much without buckling under it.
- Line 3. This line shows that great possession only becomes right when it can enter the service of something higher than private honor. What burns only for one's own house stays smaller than it seems.
- Line 4. At this point comparison must be let go. Whoever keeps measuring themselves loses the dignity of what is already given. Greatness need not compete to be real.
- Line 5. Here abundance is carried lightly and kindly. There is dignity without threat and influence without hardness. That is exactly why this greatness is trusted.
- Line 6. When great possession is at its best, it does not look merely humanly earned. Something of grace rests on it. This line asks for reverence, because not everything that became great was purely one's own work.
Related hexagrams
Frequently asked questions about hexagram 14
What does hexagram 14, Great Possession, mean in the I Ching?
Great possession asks first not for pride, but for a dignity that can carry what fell to it. This hexagram shows abundance, capacity, reach, or light that stretches wide. Much is available: strength, means, clarity, influence. Yet the meaning does not lie in the having itself. The question is whether the great possession is also carried greatly.
What does hexagram 14 (Great Possession) ask of you?
Abundance makes visible what scarcity could still hide. Whoever is small of spirit only becomes more clearly small in great possession. So this hexagram is less triumphant than it seems. What is large draws not only opportunity, but also the demand for measure, generosity, and inner order.
Read what is in motion in your situation.
A hexagram only takes on meaning in relation to your own question. Ask one and read what appears.