Hexagram 2: The Receptive → Hexagram 51: The Arousing Thunder

The Receptive
Earth / Earth
The Arousing Thunder
Thunder / Thunder
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 1, 4).

Line 1

初六 履霜堅冰至。

footsteps
shuāngfrost
jiānsolid
bīngice
zhìresults

Six at the beginning means: When there is hoarfrost underfoot, Solid ice is not far off.

Line 4

六四 括囊。无咎无譽。

kuòtied up
nángbag
no
jiùblame
no
praise

Six in the fourth place means: A tied-up sack. No blame, no praise.

Trigram Changes

Upper TrigramEarth ThunderThe Receptive → The Arousing
Lower TrigramEarth ThunderThe Receptive → The Arousing

Yilin Verse

三年生狗,以戌為母。荊夷上侵,姬伯出走。

In the third year a dog is born, taking the xu-branch as mother. The Jing barbarians invade from the south; the lord of Ji flees.

— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE

Commentary

Earth upon earth yields to doubled thunder — the Arousing. A dog born after three years takes the xu (dog) earthly branch as its mother — an image of confused origins and unnatural generation. The Jing and Yi peoples press northward, and the Ji earls are forced to flee. Doubled thunder, the image of Zhen, is shock upon shock — the arousing force that terrifies but also purifies. The verse combines cosmic disorder (a dog claiming the wrong lineage) with political disaster (frontier invasions driving aristocrats from their seats). From the Receptive to the Arousing, the earth's patient stability is shattered by repeated thunderbolts. The Ji earls, likely Zhou royal clan members, lose their ground when barbarian pressure overwhelms their defenses — thunder from the frontier that sends even the nobility running.

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