鼎 → 震
Hexagram 50: The Cauldron → Hexagram 51: The Arousing Thunder
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 6).
Line 1
初六 鼎顛趾。利出否。得妾以其子。无咎。
Six at the beginning means: A ting with legs upturned. Furthers removal of stagnating stuff. One takes a concubine for the sake of her son. No blame.
Line 2
九二 鼎有實。我仇有疾。不我能即。吉。
Nine in the second place means: There is food in the ting. My comrades are envious, But they cannot harm me. Good fortune.
Line 3
九三 鼎耳革。其行塞。雉膏不食。方雨虧悔。終吉。
Nine in the third place means: The handle of the ting is altered. One is impeded in his way of life. The fat of the pheasant is not eaten. Once rain falls, remorse is spent. Good fortune comes in the end.
Line 6
上九 鼎玉鉉。大吉。无不利。
Nine at the top means: The ting has rings of jade. Great good fortune. Nothing that would not act to further.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
老猾大偷，東行盜敖。因於噬敖，幾不得去。
The old rogue, the great thief, goes east to rob the granary of Ao. Trapped at Shi'ao, he barely escapes with his life.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Fire over wind fills the cauldron; doubled thunder shakes the world in The Arousing. A sly old thief, a master of cunning, goes east to rob the Ao Granary. But he is caught in the act at the granary, barely escaping with his life. The Ao Granary was the empire's most strategic storehouse — targeting it was the highest-stakes theft imaginable. The 'old and cunning' thief overestimates his skill; the granary's defenses hold. From The Cauldron to The Arousing, the transformation reveals shock as consequence. Doubled thunder strikes the thief mid-act — the cauldron's precious contents are guarded, and the tremor of discovery jolts the intruder. Arousal here is not opportunity but alarm: the shock that punishes overreach.
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