شش خطی 26
مهار نیروی درونی، خودسازی بزرگ، انباشت بزرگ (Da Xü)

Nurturance of the great means taking care of the great. As for the qualities of the hexagram, above is mountain , still, and below is heaven , strong; having strength yet being able to be still, it is therefore called nurturance of the great.

This hexagram represents incubation nurturing the spiritual embryo; it follows on the previous hexagram return. Return means restoration of the primordial energy. When the primordial energy comes back within, slight and vague to begin with, then becoming clearly evident, it restores the original self; the foundation of life is stabilized, the spiritual embryo is formed, and one enters from striving into nonstriving. Then one should carefully seal it and store it securely, forestalling danger, incubating and bathing, aiming for the great transformation, the unfathomable state of spiritual sublimation, making it indestructible and incorruptible.

On this path, it is beneficial to still strength, not to use strength. Therefore the text says “it is beneficial to be chaste.” Chastity here means quietude. Stilling strength is nurturing strength. The work of nurturing strength is the work of keeping centered, embracing unity; to keep centered and embrace unity, it is good to be still, not active—if one is still, this preserves strength; if one is active, this damages strength.

Stilling is not leaving the world, quietude is not empty inaction: Therein there is a way of adjustment, addition and substraction; therefore one should not “eat at home.” Only thus is one capable of great nurturance, producing good fortune. Not eating at home means externally adjusting the furnace while internally operating the true fire, still within and also still without, continuing subtly, not forgetting, not forcing. Then when one encounters great danger and difficulty one is unmoved, unshaken—only then is it real nurturing, only then is it greatness of nurturance. Therefore it is also “beneficial to cross great rivers.”

The crossing of great rivers is that whereby inner nurturance and outer effectiveness is accomplished. This is the work referred to as “nine years facing a wall.” “Facing a wall” is the state of being like a wall of immense height, detached from all kinds of biases and extremes, stopping in unknowing, breaking through space. When you break through space, the spiritual potential is freed, both body and mind are sublimated, merging with the Tao in reality. With greatness of nurturance comes greatness of development, and one becomes a companion of heaven.

Great accumulation is extensive amassing and assembling. Above is mountain , below is heaven ; this is heaven in the mountains. The sky is vast, mountains are small in comparison; being outwardly small yet inwardly great is the image of great accumulation.

What superior people see in this is that when people are unable to increase their virtue, it is because they presume upon their talent and knowledge, they aggrandize themselves, and do not know to emulate the sages of yore; therefore superior people become acquainted with many of the words and deeds of people of the past, recording them to foster expansion of consciousness and vision, thereby accumulating and storing their virtue.

The lifeline of the psychological teachings of the sages is stored in books. The speech and action of the ancient sages were speech and action of virtue. If one can study widely with serious intent, question earnestly and think for oneself, then one comes face to face with the sages, says what the ancients said and does what the ancients did. When speech and action are free from defect, one's virtue accumulates and grows day by day. Only then can one fulfill nature and reach the meaning of life. When both nature and life are comprehended, one is as permanent as heaven, as stable as the mountains. What can compare to the greatness of that accumulation?