Hexagram 51: Zhèn (The Arousing Thunder)

The Judgment

Zhen gives the intimation of ease and development. When (the time of) movement (which it indicates) comes, (the subject of the hexagram) will be found looking out with apprehension, and yet smiling and talking cheerfully. When the movement (like a crash of thunder) terrifies all within a hundred Li, he will be (like the sincere worshipper) who is not (startled into) letting go his ladle and (cup of) sacrificial spirits.

震：亨。震来虩虩，笑言哑哑。震惊百里，不丧匕鬯。

Commentary on the Judgment (Tuan)

Zhen (gives the intimation of) ease and development. 'When the (time of) movement (which it indicates) comes, (its subject) will be found looking out with apprehension:' - that feeling of dread leads to happiness. 'And yet smiling and talking cheerfully:' - the issue (of his dread) is that he adopts (proper) laws (for his course). 'The movement (like a crash of thunder) terrifies all within a hundred Lu:' - it startles the distant and frightens the near. 'He will be like the sincere worshipper, who is not startled into letting go his ladle and cup of sacrificial spirits:' - he makes his appearance, and maintains his ancestral temple and the altars of the spirits of the land and grain, as presiding at all sacrifices.

彖曰：震，亨。震来虩虩，恐致福也。笑言哑哑，后有则也。震惊百里，惊远而惧迩也。出可以守宗庙社稷，以为祭主也。

The Great Image

(The trigram representing) thunder, being repeated, forms Zhen. The superior man, in accordance with this, is fearful and apprehensive, cultivates (his virtue), and examines (his faults).

象曰：洊雷，震；君子以恐惧修省。

The six lines

1. Line 1 (first): The first NINE, undivided, shows its subject, when the movement approaches, looking out and around with apprehension, and afterwards smiling and talking cheerfully. There will be good fortune.

   'When the (time of) movement comes, he will be found looking out with apprehension:' - that feeling of dread leads to happiness. 'He yet smiles and talks cheerfully:' - the issue (of his dread) is that he adopts (proper) laws (for his course).

   In plain words: Thunder comes, and there is fright; afterwards laughter and talk: good fortune. The first line is the ruler of the hexagram: fear comes first, and then it learns caution. The Small Image says fear brings blessing, and the laughter afterwards comes from having found a rule.

   初九：震来虩虩，后笑言哑哑，吉。 象曰：震来虩虩，恐致福也。笑言哑哑，后有则也。

2. Line 2 (second): The second SIX, divided, shows its subject, when the movement approaches, in a position of peril. He judges it better to let go the articles (in his possession), and to ascend a very lofty height. There is no occasion for him to pursue after (the things he has let go); in seven days he will find them.

   'When the movement approaches, he is in a position of peril:' - (a weak line) is mounted on a strong (one).

   In plain words: Thunder comes with danger; one expects to lose one's wealth; climbing the high hills to escape, do not chase it: in seven days it will be regained. The cowries were ancient money. The second line rides on the first line and bears the strongest shock. The Small Image says this is because it rides on the strong.

   六二：震来厉，亿丧贝，跻于九陵，勿逐，七日得。 象曰：震来厉，乘刚也。

3. Line 3 (third): The third six, divided, shows its subject distraught amid the startling movements going on. If those movements excite him to (right) action, there will be no mistake.

   'He is distraught amid the startling movements going on:' - (the third line) is in a position unsuitable to it.

   In plain words: Thunder leaves one dazed; if the shock spurs one to act, there is no disaster. The third line is neither central nor correct, so it is shaken; if it wakes up and corrects itself, it escapes harm. The Small Image says its position is improper.

   六三：震苏苏，震行无眚。 象曰：震苏苏，位不当也。

4. Line 4 (fourth): The fourth NINE, undivided, shows its subject, amid the startling movements, supinely sinking (deeper) in the mud.

   'Amid the startling movements, he sinks supinely in the mud:' - the light in him has not yet been brilliantly developed.

   In plain words: Thunder, and one sinks into the mud. The fourth line is yang in a yin place, sunk among four yin lines; it should rouse itself but stays mired. The Small Image says its light has not yet spread.

   九四：震遂泥。 象曰：震遂泥，未光也。

5. Line 5 (fifth): The fifth SIX, divided, shows its subject going and coming amidst the startling movements (of the time), and always in peril; but perhaps he will not incur loss, and find business (which he can accomplish).

   'He goes and comes amid the startling movements, and (always) in peril:' - full of risk are his doings. 'What he has to do has to be done in his central position:' - far will he be from incurring any loss.

   In plain words: Thunder comes and goes with danger; one expects no loss, and there is work to be done. The fifth line is yielding in the place of honour amid the shaking, but it is central and can hold on to what must be done. The Small Image says moving in danger is acting amid peril, and keeping its work at the centre means there is no great loss.

   六五：震往来厉，亿无丧，有事。 象曰：震往来厉，危行也。其事在中，大无丧也。

6. Line 6 (sixth (top)): The topmost SIX, divided, shows its subject, amidst the startling movements (of the time), in breathless dismay and looking round him with trembling apprehension. If he take action, there will be evil. If, while the startling movements have not reached his own person and his neighbourhood, (he were to take precautions), there would be no error, though his relatives might (still) speak against him.

   'Amid the startling movements he is in breathless dismay:' - he has not found out (the course of) the due mean. 'Though evil (threatens), he will not fall into error:' - he is afraid of being warned by his neighbours.

   In plain words: Thunder scatters the spirit and the eyes dart about: setting out brings misfortune. If the thunder strikes not oneself but one's neighbour, taking warning brings no fault, though there will be talk among in-laws. The top line is at the end of the hexagram. The Small Image says it has not found the middle, and though there is misfortune there is no fault, because it took warning from its neighbour.

   上六：震索索，视矍矍，征凶。震不于其躬，于其邻，无咎。婚媾有言。 象曰：震索索，中未得也。虽凶无咎，畏邻戒也。

Line positions

3 of the six lines stand in their proper place (strong lines in odd places, weak lines in even places).

The second and fifth lines hold the central places of the lower and upper trigrams; both are weak, so they do not correspond.

Of the three pairs of corresponding places (first and fourth, second and fifth, third and top), 0 pairs are made of one strong and one weak line.

Strong lines belong in odd places and weak lines in even places; the second and fifth are the central places; first and fourth, second and fifth, third and top correspond, and they "respond" when one is strong and the other weak.

These are structural conventions, not scores of good or bad fortune. Commentators differ: Wang Bi treats the first and top places as beginning and end without fixed yin or yang positions. Read each line with its Small Image and the whole hexagram.

Place in Jing Fang's eight palaces

Jing Fang grouped the 64 hexagrams into eight "palaces" of eight, each headed by a doubled trigram. Changing the lines of the head hexagram one by one from the bottom gives the next five; the last two are the "wandering soul" and "returning soul" hexagrams. The Zhen palace runs: Zhèn (head), Yù (1st change), Xiè (2nd change), Héng (3rd change), Shēng (4th change), Jǐng (5th change), Dà Guò (wandering soul), Suí (returning soul).

A recorded case from Takashima

Zhen to Sui: an heir long held down: A friend asked about the fortunes of a family's heir and received the fifth line of Zhen, "shock comes and goes, danger; nothing is lost, there is work to do". From the figure Takashima inferred that the household had long been run by its mistress and the heir kept down; now his strength had grown and he could step up, and if he stayed careful and self-examining he would keep the family line. They followed the reading.

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English text: James Legge, The Yi King (Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16, 1882), public domain, as transcribed by the Chinese Text Project. Chinese: the received text. Offered for study and reflection, not as prediction.

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