HEXAGRAM 11 · tài

Peace

Flow between levels: exchange, trust, and the maintenance of a favorable cycle

地天泰Classical Chinese included

Translation approach

The Chinese source stays visible. Where an editorial close rendering is available, it stays near the wording before Astro I Ching expands into cultural interpretation. Why we separate these layers →

CLASSICAL CHINESE

The source anchor

Read the source first. The English layer below remains accountable to these passages rather than replacing them with a simplified verdict.

卦辞 · Judgment

泰：小往大来，吉，亨。

Close rendering

Peace: the small departs and the great arrives. Good fortune; success.

《大象》 · Image

天地交，泰；后以财成天地之道，辅相天地之宜，以左右民。

Close rendering

Heaven and Earth join: Peace. The ruler therefore shapes and completes the ways of Heaven and Earth, assists what is fitting in them, and supports the people.

How to read the middle layer

Close rendering stays near wording and sequence. It is not presented as the only possible translation; the cultural reading below is where Astro I Ching explains image, structure, and practical logic in fuller English.

ASTRO I CHING · CULTURAL READING

Why this hexagram says what it says

Cultural reading of the image

Earth stands above Heaven, an apparent inversion that creates exchange between yin and yang. Tai pictures a system in which upper and lower can communicate and circulate.

Cultural reading of the judgment

Peace here is not permanent ease. It is a condition of circulation, trust, and exchange—and therefore a condition that still belongs to a cycle and can change.

SIX LINES · ONE STORY

How the hexagram develops from bottom to top

Line 1 · 初九

Classical Chinese

拔茅茹，以其汇，征吉。

Close rendering

Pulling up reed grass brings its roots and kind along with it. Going forward together brings good fortune.

Cultural reading

Real ascent often pulls connected roots upward together rather than elevating one person in isolation.

Line 2 · 九二

Classical Chinese

包荒，用冯河，不遐遗，朋亡，得尚于中行。

Close rendering

Embrace what is rough and distant; ford the river boldly; do not neglect those far away; let private factions fall away. In this way one accords with the central path.

Cultural reading

Even in favorable times, making room for the difficult, the marginal, and the unglamorous keeps prosperity from becoming a closed circle.

Line 3 · 九三

Classical Chinese

无平不陂，无往不复。艰贞无咎，勿恤其孚，于食有福。

Close rendering

No level ground remains forever without a slope; nothing goes without returning. Constancy in difficulty brings no blame. Do not worry over whether trust is recognized; there is blessing in what sustains you.

Cultural reading

No situation remains level forever. Accepting reversal while things are going well makes later change less destabilizing.

Line 4 · 六四

Classical Chinese

翩翩，不富以其邻，不戒以孚。

Close rendering

Fluttering down, not relying on wealth to draw neighbors close; without warning them, there is trust.

Cultural reading

Where trust is mature, connection does not need to be purchased continually; movement between people can become lighter.

Line 5 · 六五

Classical Chinese

帝乙归妹，以祉元吉。

Close rendering

King Di Yi gives his younger sister in marriage. Through this comes blessing and great good fortune.

Cultural reading

Resources and relationships used to create genuine union give prosperity a longer future than status display does.

Line 6 · 上六

Classical Chinese

城复于隍，勿用师。自邑告命，贞吝。

Close rendering

The city wall collapses back into the moat. Do not use the army. Issue orders from one’s own city. Holding rigidly to the old course brings regret.

Cultural reading

When openness reaches its limit, boundaries reappear. Old forceful methods cannot reliably restore a former phase.

BRING IT BACK TO LIFE

What this can help you notice

Useful when things are working well and the real task is to preserve circulation before success hardens into complacency.

A common misreading

Peace is not a permanent guarantee. The hexagram is about circulation, and circulation remains cyclical.

Keep the classical text and the interpretive layer separate: one is the source, the other is Astro I Ching's explanation of how the source can be read.

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