Hexagram 53: Development → Hexagram 51: The Arousing Thunder

Development
Wind / Mountain
The Arousing Thunder
Thunder / Thunder
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 5 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 4, 5, 6).

Line 1

初六 鴻漸于干。小子厲有言。無咎。

hóngthe wild geese
jiàngradually advance
to
gānthe shoreline
xiǎothe little
child
having
yǒuthere is
yána talk
but no
jiùblame

Six at the beginning means: The wild goose gradually draws near the shore. The young son is in danger. There is talk. No blame.

Line 3

九三 鴻漸于陸。夫征不復。婦孕不育。凶。利禦寇。

hóngthe wild goose
jiànadvances
to
the plateau
the husband
zhēngon expedition
on but is
to return
the wife
yùnconceives
but does
give birth
xiōngunfortunate
it is worthwhile
oppose
kòupredator

Nine in the third place means: The wild goose gradually draws near the plateau. The man goes forth and does not return. The woman carries a child but does not bring it forth. Misfortune. It furthers one to fight off robbers.

Line 4

六四 鴻漸于木。或得其桷。无咎。

hóngthe wild goose
jiànadvances
to
the trees [on the mountain: ban xiang]
huòsomehow
to find
one
juéthe flat
no
jiùblame

Six in the fourth place means: The wild goose goes gradually draws near the tree. Perhaps it will find a flat branch. No blame.

Line 5

九五 鴻漸于陵。婦三歲不孕。終莫之勝。吉。

hóngthe wild geese
jiàngradually advance
to
língthe foothills
the wife
sānis
suìyears
without
yùnconceiving
zhōngbut in the end
nothing
zhī^
shèngcan
promising

Nine in the fifth place means: The wild goose gradually draws near the summit. For three years the woman has no child. In the end nothing can hinder her. Good fortune.

Line 6

上九 鴻漸于陸。其羽可用為儀。吉。

hóngthe wild geese
jiàngradually advance
together to
the plateau
their
feathers
will be
yòngused
wéiin
the sacred dance
promising

Nine at the top means: The wild goose gradually draws near the clouds heights. Its feathers can be used for the sacred dance. Good fortune.

Trigram Changes

Upper TrigramWind ThunderThe Gentle → The Arousing
Lower TrigramMountain ThunderKeeping Still → The Arousing

Yilin Verse

凶重憂累,身受誅罪,神不能解。

Misfortune piled upon sorrow; the body suffers execution and punishment. Even the spirits cannot undo it.

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

Commentary

Wind over mountain gives way to doubled thunder: gradual development is shattered by the Arousing. Calamities compound upon one another; the body suffers punishment and execution. Even the spirits cannot undo the harm. The verse is blunt in its finality: no intervention, human or divine, can reverse the accumulated weight of disaster. Doubled thunder shakes the earth with terrifying force. From Development to the Arousing, the slow, patient work of the source hexagram is obliterated by a shock that admits no negotiation. The gentleman who hears thunder examines himself in fear and awe, but the verse suggests the moment for self-correction has already passed. Gradual transgression, left unchecked, triggers a thunderbolt from which there is no appeal.

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