震 → 鼎
Hexagram 51: The Arousing Thunder → Hexagram 50: The Cauldron
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 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 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 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 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
體重飛難，未能越關。不啻留垣，上下墟塞，心不遑安。
Body heavy, flight is hard; unable to cross the pass. Detained as if behind walls; above and below, the roads are blocked. The heart finds no ease.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder doubled meets fire over wind: shock confronts the solemn vessel of The Cauldron. The body is too heavy for flight, unable to cross the pass. Lingering, unable to advance beyond the wall; above and below are blocked and sealed. The heart finds no peace. The image is of something massive and earthbound — perhaps the cauldron itself — that yearns to move but cannot overcome its own weight. Every passage is blocked, every exit sealed. From The Arousing to The Cauldron, fire over wood, the vessel that refines and nourishes requires being properly set in place. Here the thunder's impulse to move clashes with the cauldron's nature, which is to remain fixed and receive. Restlessness within a vessel meant for stillness produces only anxiety — the heart cannot settle because the form demands what the spirit resists.
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