震 → 未濟
Hexagram 51: The Arousing Thunder → Hexagram 64: Before Completion
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 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 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
白日揚光，雷車避藏。雲雨不行，各止其鄉。
The white sun radiates light; the thunder-chariot retreats and hides. Cloud and rain do not travel; each halts in its own domain.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder doubled meets fire over water: shock arrested at the threshold of Before Completion. The white sun blazes bright; the thunder-chariot retreats into hiding. Clouds and rain do not move; each stays in its own place. Sunlight dominates the sky, and the thunder — normally the sovereign force of this hexagram — hides away. Without thunder there is no rain; without rain the clouds merely hang. Everything retreats to its own quarter, unable to combine. From The Arousing to Before Completion, fire above water, the two forces see each other but cannot merge. The verse captures the precise condition of non-completion: all elements are present but none interact. The sun shines, the thunder waits, the clouds hover — and nothing happens. The final hexagram of the cycle remains permanently on the verge, full of potential that refuses to discharge.
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