震 → 坎
Hexagram 51: The Arousing Thunder → Hexagram 29: The Abysmal Water
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 4, 5).
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 2
六二 震來厲。億喪貝。躋于九陵。勿逐。七日得。
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 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.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
少无功績，老困失福。跂行徙倚，不知所立。
Young and without achievement; old, exhausted, blessings lost. Hobbling, stumbling, leaning from side to side; not knowing where to stand.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder doubled meets doubled water: shock plunges into the abyss. Young and without achievement, old and destitute, bereft of fortune. Standing on tiptoe and leaning against walls, not knowing where to find footing. A life that produces nothing in youth and collapses in age — the entire arc is failure. The body's instability mirrors the soul's: teetering, bracing against whatever is nearby, never finding solid ground. From The Arousing to The Abysmal, water upon water, the verse traces thunder's energy falling into repeated danger. The doubled pit has no bottom; each effort to stand only reveals another layer of precariousness. The gentleman practices constant virtue through habitual action, but this figure has never built the habits that would carry him through the abyss.
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