Hexagram 51 of 64 · King Wen order
震The Arousing
Zhèn · ䷲ · above: Thunder ☳ 震 Zhèn · below: Thunder ☳ 震 Zhèn
A sudden disturbance that serves to awaken the spirit and lead to inner reform.A one-line gloss written for this site (AI-assisted). Everything below it is the classical text.
The Judgment 卦辭
亨。震來虩虩，笑言啞啞。震驚百里，不喪匕鬯。
Kăn 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 lî, he will be (like the sincere worshipper) who is not (startled into) letting go his ladle and (cup of) sacrificial spirits.
James Legge, The Yî King (1882), the Text. Words in (parentheses) are Legge's own additions.
Commentary on the Judgment 彖傳 (Tuan, the first Wing)
1. Kan (gives the intimation of) ease and development.
2. '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 li:'—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.
The Image 象
洊雷，震；君子以恐懼修身。
(The trigram representing) thunder, being repeated, forms Kăn. The superior man, in accordance with this, is fearful and apprehensive, cultivates (his virtue), and examines (his faults).
Legge's Great Image (Appendix II). The Chinese above also carries the Small Images of the six lines.
The six lines 爻辭
Read from the bottom (line 1) to the top (line 6). Each line: the Chinese, Legge's translation, and the Small Image commentary on it.
Line 1 初九
The first line from the bottom, yang (solid, nine)
震來虩虩，後笑言啞啞，吉。
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.
Small Image: '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).
If this line changes, it becomes Hexagram 16, Enthusiasm.
Line 2 六二
The second line from the bottom, yin (broken, six)
震來厲，億喪貝，躋于九陵，勿逐，七日得。
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.
Small Image: 'When the movement approaches, he is in a position of peril:'—(a weak line) is mounted on a strong (one).
If this line changes, it becomes Hexagram 54, The Marrying Maiden.
Line 3 六三
The third line from the bottom, yin (broken, six)
震蘇蘇，震行無眚。
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.
Small Image: 'He is distraught amid the startling movements going on:'—(the third line) is in a position unsuitable to it.
If this line changes, it becomes Hexagram 55, Abundance.
Line 4 九四
The fourth line from the bottom, yang (solid, nine)
震遂泥。
The fourth NINE, undivided, shows its subject, amid the startling movements, supinely sinking (deeper) in the mud.
Small Image: 'Amid the startling movements, he sinks supinely in the mud:'—the light in him has not yet been brilliantly developed.
If this line changes, it becomes Hexagram 24, Return.
Line 5 六五
The fifth line from the bottom, yin (broken, six)
震往來厲，億無喪，有事。
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).
Small Image: '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.
If this line changes, it becomes Hexagram 17, Following.
Line 6 上六
The sixth line from the bottom, yin (broken, six)
震索索，視矍矍，征凶。震不于其躬，于其鄰，無咎。婚媾有言。
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.
Small Image: '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.
If this line changes, it becomes Hexagram 21, Biting Through.
Related hexagrams
lines 2-4 below, 3-5 aboveOpposite 錯卦57. The Gentle 巽
every line changedInverse 綜卦52. Keeping Still, Mountain 艮
turned upside down
A hexagram is a mirror, not a command: read it to reflect, never to obey. Sources: James Legge (tr.), The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East vol. XVI (Oxford, 1882; 2nd ed. 1899), public domain; the Chinese text from Project Gutenberg ebook #25501 (易經), public domain. The trigram facts and the related hexagrams are computed from the line pattern. The gloss, selection and arrangement are CC-BY-SA-4.0 (PlayfulProcess). Data: github.com/PlayfulProcess/recursive-iching.