震 → 咸
Hexagram 51: The Arousing Thunder → Hexagram 31: Influence
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 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 3
六三 震蘇蘇。震行无眚。
Six in the third place means: Shock comes and makes one distraught. If shock spurs to action One remains free of misfortune.
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
齎貝贖狸，不聽我辭。繫於虎鬚，牽不得來。
Casting iron into a boat, making wings of lead and stone. Though the thunder roars, the millstone will not turn.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder doubled meets lake over mountain: shock encounters the receptive sensitivity of Influence. The original verse reads: 'Bringing cowries to ransom a fox-cat, but it will not heed my words. Tied to the tiger's whiskers, tugging yet unable to pull it free.' The imagery depicts futile negotiation with dangerous forces — offering treasure to redeem a wild creature that refuses, then literally clinging to a tiger's face and finding oneself trapped. From The Arousing to Influence, mountain below lake, the verse inverts Influence's promise of mutual responsiveness. Where the lake should gently move the mountain through tender reception, here the attempt at connection meets absolute resistance. Influence requires the right conditions; forced attachment to a hostile power only produces entrapment.
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