大畜

Hexagram 51: The Arousing Thunder → Hexagram 26: Great Taming

The Arousing Thunder
Thunder / Thunder
大畜
Great Taming
Mountain / Heaven
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 2, 3, 4, 6).

Line 2

六二 震來厲。億喪貝。躋于九陵。勿逐。七日得。

zhènthe thunder
láibrings (about)
difficulty
a hundred thousand
sànglost
bèibelongings
and climb
up
jiǔnine
línghill
do not
zhúpursue

Six in the second place means: 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 again.

Line 3

六三 震蘇蘇。震行无眚。

zhènthe thunder
awakens
and revives
zhènbe aroused
xíngto movement
and
shěngto distress

Six in the third place means: Shock comes and makes one distraught. If shock spurs to action One remains free of misfortune.

Line 4

九四 震遂泥。

zhènthe thunder
suìis followed by
mud

Nine in the fourth place means: Shock is mired.

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。

zhènthe thunder
suǒstartles
suǒand confuses
shìlooking
juéin wild-eyed
juéin terror
zhēngto expedite
xiōngis foreboding
zhènthe thunder
is not
in
one's (own)
gōngbeing
but merely in
one's (own)
línneighborhood
there is no
jiùblame
hūneven a
gòusuitor
yǒuwill
yántalk

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

Upper TrigramThunder MountainThe Arousing → Keeping Still
Lower TrigramThunder HeavenThe Arousing → The Creative

Yilin Verse

月步日趍,周遍次舍。經歷致遠,无有難處。

The moon walks, the sun hastens; circling through every station. Journeying far through experience; nowhere is there hardship.

— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE

Commentary

Thunder doubled meets mountain over heaven: shock accumulated into great reserves. The moon walks, the sun hastens, circuiting through all the lodging stations in sequence. Traveling great distances through experience, no place presents difficulty. The celestial bodies move through their appointed stations without haste or anxiety — the moon pacing, the sun trotting, each visiting its mansion in turn. This is the rhythm of accumulated competence: what once seemed daunting becomes effortless through practice. From The Arousing to Great Taming, heaven stored within the mountain, the verse shows how thunder's repeated shocks, once absorbed and internalized, build the vast reservoir of knowledge that makes all journeys navigable. The gentleman who studies the words and deeds of the past has already traveled every road.

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