Hexagram 51
震
Zhèn
The Arousing Thunder
Upper Trigram
震 Zhèn
Thunder — Arousing
Lower Trigram
震 Zhèn
Thunder — Arousing
Classical Texts
The Judgment
亨。震來虩虩。笑言啞啞。震驚百里。不喪匕鬯。
The Image
洊雷，震。君子以恐懼修省。
The Lines
Line 1
初九 震來虩虩。後笑言啞啞。吉。
Line 2
六二 震來厲。億喪貝。躋于九陵。勿逐。七日得。
Line 3
六三 震蘇蘇。震行无眚。
Line 4
九四 震遂泥。
Line 5
六五 震往來厲。意无喪有事。
Line 6
上六 震索索。視矍矍。征凶。震不于其躬。于其鄰。无咎。婚媾有言。
The Ninth Wave
Ivan Aivazovsky, 1850
The Arousing
Shipwreck survivors cling to a makeshift raft as a massive wave towers above them at dawn. Russian-Armenian painter Ivan Aivazovsky depicts the moment before impact in his 1850 work. Maritime folklore called the ninth wave the most dangerous in any storm sequence—the culmination of building swells that could shatter vessels or hurl sailors into the deep. The painting captures bodies gripping broken masts as golden sunrise illuminates the approaching wall of water. They have survived the night's fury only to face this final test.
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This is Zhèn (震), the Chinese hexagram of The Arousing. The character combines the rain radical with elements suggesting trembling and shock—thunderclap that startles all living things into sudden awareness. Ancient diviners saw this configuration when Thunder (Zhèn) doubles upon itself: shock above, shock below, repeated jolts testing composure. Aivazovsky's ninth wave embodies this principle—the sailors have weathered eight previous crests, yet each new surge demands renewed response. The arousing force doesn't destroy through single impact but through succession that wears down resistance. Russian-Armenian marine painter Aivazovsky depicts shipwreck survivors clinging to debris as a massive wave approaches at sunrise. Maritime folklore held the ninth wave as the most dangerous in a storm sequence. The painting captures the sudden, overwhelming shock of nature's arousing power, connecting to The Arousing's thunderbolt imagery. The Judgment states: "Shock brings 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." The ancient text describes a ritual master maintaining composure during thunder, continuing the ceremony without spilling offerings. Aivazovsky's survivors demonstrate this principle in extremis—they grip their raft with the same careful attention the sage applies to sacred vessels. Success comes not from avoiding the shock but from remaining centered through repeated trials. Zhou Dynasty practitioners understood this hexagram appeared when testing moments arrived that could either awaken or shatter. The Image Text declares: "Thunder repeated: the image of Shock. Thus in fear and trembling the superior man sets his life in order and examines himself." The doubled trigram creates escalating intensity—first shock provokes reaction, second shock reveals character. Aivazovsky painted this in 1850, as European revolutions of 1848 sent successive political shocks across empires. The wave will break. The raft may hold or splinter. What matters is how one grips the timber when water thunders down from above.
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.
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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)