Upper Trigram
震 Zhèn
Thunder — Arousing
Lower Trigram
震 Zhèn
Thunder — Arousing
Classical Texts
The Judgment
Success. Shock comes—oh, oh! Laughing words—ha, ha! The shock terrifies for a hundred miles, and he does not let fall the sacrificial spoon and chalice. When you have learned within your heart what fear and trembling mean, you are safeguarded against any terror produced by outside influences. Let thunder roll and spread terror a hundred miles around: remain so composed and reverent in spirit that the ritual is not interrupted. Profound inner seriousness from which all outer terrors glance off harmlessly.
The Lines
Line 1
Shock comes—oh, oh! Then follow laughing words—ha, ha! Good fortune. Fear and trembling come at first in such a way that you see yourself at a disadvantage. But this is transitory. When the ordeal is over, you experience relief. The very terror you had to endure at the outset brings good fortune in the long run.
Line 2
Shock comes bringing danger. A hundred thousand times you lose your treasures and must climb the nine hills. Do not go in pursuit of them. After seven days you will get them back. Shock endangers you and causes great losses. Resistance would be contrary to the movement of the time and therefore unsuccessful. Simply retreat to heights inaccessible to threatening forces. Accept loss of property without worrying too much—when shock passes, you will get them back without pursuit.
Line 3
Shock comes and makes one distraught. If shock spurs to action, one remains free of misfortune. Three kinds of shock: heaven's thunder, fate's blows, the shock of the heart. In times of shock, presence of mind is all too easily lost; one overlooks opportunities and mutely lets fate take its course. But if you allow the shocks to induce movement within your mind, you will overcome external blows with little effort.
Line 4
Shock is mired. Movement within the mind depends partly on circumstances. If there is neither resistance to combat vigorously nor yielding that permits victory—if instead everything is tough and inert like mire—movement is crippled.
Line 5
Shock goes hither and thither. Danger. However, nothing at all is lost. Yet there are things to be done. Not a single shock but repeated shocks with no breathing space between. Nonetheless, the shock causes no loss because you take care to stay in the center of movement and are spared the fate of being helplessly tossed about.
Line 6
Shock brings ruin and terrified gazing around. Going ahead brings misfortune. If it has not yet touched your own body but has reached your neighbor first, there is no blame. Your comrades have something to talk about. When inner shock is at its height, it robs you of reflection and clarity of vision. Keep still until composure and clarity are restored. This you can do only when you yourself are not yet infected by the agitation, though its disastrous effects are visible in those around you.
Yilin: Forest of Changes
From Jiao Yanshou's Forest of Changes (焦氏易林) — the verse for Hexagram 51 in its unchanging form. A Han dynasty collection of four-character verses interpreting every hexagram transformation.
枯瓠不朽，利以濟舟。渡踰河海，无有溺憂。
The dried gourd does not decay; it serves to ferry the boat. Crossing over rivers and seas; there is no worry of drowning.
Read full commentary ↓
Thunder meets itself: pure shock reflected and redoubled. A dried gourd that does not rot — useful for crossing by boat. It ferries one across rivers and seas without fear of drowning. The gourd (瓠), hollow and light, floats naturally. Zhuangzi famously argued that even a useless thing, if understood correctly, becomes a vessel: the massive gourd that cannot be used as a ladle becomes a boat. The verse applies this insight to the self-referential hexagram: Thunder to Thunder, the shock that returns to itself discovers its own buoyancy. What seems empty and dried out proves to be the very quality that saves. From The Arousing to itself, the lesson is that thunder's nature, accepted without resistance, carries one safely through the deepest waters.
中文注释
洊雷震動，復歸震動——純粹之震，自我映照。枯瓠不朽——乾瓠不腐。利以濟舟——可為渡舟之用。渡踰河海，無有溺憂——漂越河海而無溺水之虞。瓠者，中空而輕，天然浮於水。莊子曾論：無用之大瓠，不可為瓢，卻可為舟。此詩用於自歸之卦：震復歸震，衝擊回歸自身，方發現本有之浮力。看似枯空無用之質，恰是救渡之關鍵。從震至震——接受本性而不抗拒，方能安然渡過至深之水。恐懼修省，即是自渡之道。
Related Hexagrams
Same upper trigram: Thunder (震)
Same lower trigram: Thunder (震)