大壯家人

Hexagram 34: Great Power → Hexagram 37: The Family

大壯
Great Power
Thunder / Heaven
家人
The Family
Wind / Fire
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 2, 4, 5, 6).

Line 2

九二 貞吉。

zhēnpersistence
is promising

Nine in the second place means: Perseverance brings good fortune.

Line 4

九四 貞吉。悔亡。藩決不羸。壯于大輿之輹。

zhēnpersistence
is promising
huǐand
wángpass
fānthe hedge(row)
juéopens (up)
without
léientanglement(s)
zhuàngthe power
to go
the big
輿cart
zhīis (with)in its
axle strut

Nine in the fourth place means: Perseverance brings good fortune. Remorse disappears. The hedge opens; there is no entanglement. Power depends upon the axle of a big cart.

Line 5

六五 喪羊于易。无悔。

sànglosing
yángthe goat
in
the exchange
no
huǐregret(s)

Six in the fifth place means: Loses the goat with ease. No remorse.

Line 6

上六 羝羊觸藩。不能退。不能遂。无攸利。艱則吉。

the billy
yánggoat
chùbutts (against)
fānthe hedge(row)
not
néngable
退tuìto retreat
not
néngable
suìto proceed
this is no
yōua direction
with merit
jiānbut
give(s) rise to
promise

Six at the top means: A goat butts against a hedge. It cannot go backward, it cannot go forward. Nothing serves to further. If one notes the difficulty, this brings good fortune.

Trigram Changes

Upper TrigramThunder WindThe Arousing → The Gentle
Lower TrigramHeaven FireThe Creative → The Clinging

Yilin Verse

舉觴飲酒,未得至口,側弁醉酗,拔劍相怒,武侯作悔。

Raising the cup to drink wine, it does not reach the mouth. Cap askew, drunk and raging, swords drawn in mutual anger. Lord Wu regrets what follows.

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

Commentary

Thunder above heaven erupts at a banquet gone wrong. Wine cups are raised but never reach the lips; caps tilt askew as drunken rage takes hold. Swords are drawn in anger across the feast table, and 'Lord Wu' is left with regret. This may allude to a historical incident at a Zhou-era court feast, or to any of several episodes where drinking led to drawn weapons and political disaster — echoing Zi Fan of Chu, who was too drunk to command at Yanling, or similar tales of wine and violence. From Great Power to the Family, wind issues from fire in Jiaren: words must have substance, conduct must have constancy. The transformation demands exactly what the banquet lacked — domestic order, measured speech, and the discipline to contain powerful emotions within proper bounds.

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