震 → 觀
Hexagram 51: The Arousing Thunder → Hexagram 20: Contemplation
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 4, 5, 6).
Line 1
初九 震來虩虩。後笑言啞啞。吉。
Nine at the beginning means: Shock comes–oh, oh! Then follow laughing words–ha, ha! Good fortune.
Line 4
九四 震遂泥。
Nine in the fourth place means: Shock is mired.
Line 5
六五 震往來厲。意无喪有事。
Six in the fifth place means: Shock goes hither and thither. Danger. However, nothing at all is lost. Yet there are things to be done.
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。
Six at the top means: Shock brings ruin and terrified gazing around. Going ahead brings misfortune. If it has not yet touched one's own body But has reached one's neighbor first, There is no blame. One's comrades have something to talk about.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
缺破不成，胎卵不生，不見兆形。
Broken and incomplete; egg and embryo do not quicken. No sign or form appears.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder doubled yields to wind over earth: shock dissipates into the broad gaze of contemplation. Broken and incomplete, the embryo cannot develop, no sign or form can be discerned. The verse describes absolute failure of formation — not destruction but the inability to coalesce in the first place. An egg that never hatches, a shape that never emerges. From The Arousing to Contemplation, wind moving over the earth surveys everything but grasps nothing. Thunder's generative impulse, when it meets only the passive viewing of Contemplation rather than active engagement, produces nothing. The sage-king surveys his domain and instructs the people, but here there is no substance to observe. Pure potential dissolves into the indeterminate.
The Six Lines app includes all 4,096 Yilin verses, each with original ink brush artwork and full commentary. Download on the App Store