Upper Trigram
震 Zhèn
Thunder — Arousing
Lower Trigram
坎 Kǎn
Water — Abysmal
Classical Texts
The Judgment
The southwest furthers. If there's nowhere left you have to go, return brings good fortune. If something remains to be done, hasten brings good fortune. Tensions ease. Return to ordinary conditions as soon as possible. Don't overdo the triumph—don't push further than necessary. Handle residual matters quickly for a clean sweep. Like rain relieving atmospheric tension, deliverance has a liberating effect. But it's just beginning.
The Lines
Line 1
Without blame. Hindrance past, deliverance come. Recuperate in peace and keep still. Few words needed. This is the right thing when difficulties have been overcome.
Line 2
Three foxes killed in the field, yellow arrow received. Persistence brings good fortune. Designing flatterers must be removed before deliverance is complete. But use the right weapons—measure and directness. Wholeheartedness develops inner strength that acts against what is false.
Line 3
Carrying a burden on your back while riding in a carriage—you encourage robbers. Persistence leads to humiliation. Coming from need into comfort, you affect ease that doesn't suit your nature. Carelessness invites theft. Insolence toward superiors and hardness toward inferiors attract attack.
Line 4
Deliver yourself from your great toe. Then the companion comes whom you can trust. Those who attached through habit must be freed when deliverance calls for deeds. Otherwise, those who share your views mistrust you and stay away.
Line 5
If only the superior person can deliver himself, good fortune. Prove to inferior people that you are in earnest. They cannot be driven off by external means. Break completely with them in your own mind first. They will see your seriousness and withdraw.
Line 6
The prince shoots a hawk on a high wall. He kills it. Everything furthers. A powerful inferior in a high position hinders deliverance, hardened in wickedness. Forcible removal is required. Prepare the means within yourself. Bide your time, then act. Everything goes well.
Yilin: Forest of Changes
From Jiao Yanshou's Forest of Changes (焦氏易林) — the verse for Hexagram 40 in its unchanging form. A Han dynasty collection of four-character verses interpreting every hexagram transformation.
駕行出遊，鳥鬭車前，更相捽滅。兵寇旦來，回車亟還，可以无憂。
Driving out for a journey, birds battle before the chariot, tearing at each other. Soldiers and brigands arrive at dawn; he turns the chariot and races back, and thus avoids all worry.
Read full commentary ↓
Thunder over water encounters itself — Deliverance meeting Deliverance. Driving out on a journey, birds fight before the carriage, tearing at each other. Then word comes that soldiers and bandits approach at dawn; one turns the carriage and races home, and thereby avoids worry. The verse dramatizes the instinct for timely retreat: omens appear (fighting birds), danger confirms (approaching troops), and the wise traveler does not hesitate to reverse course. From Deliverance to Deliverance, the pattern doubles rather than transforms. Release from one predicament comes through the release of attachment to the journey itself. Sometimes the most decisive act of deliverance is simply turning around.
中文注释
雷雨作，解之自遇。駕行出遊——驅車出行。鳥鬭車前，更相捽滅——飛鳥在車前搏鬥撕扯，凶兆已現。兵寇旦來——晨間傳來賊兵消息。回車亟還——急忙掉頭回返。可以无憂——因此免於禍患。解遇解，雙重之解脫：第一重是識兆而退，第二重是放棄行程。不執著於原定之路，方能全身而退。最果斷之解脫有時不過是及時回頭。
Related Hexagrams
Same upper trigram: Thunder (震)
Same lower trigram: Water (坎)