Hexagram 34, line 2
九二Line 2 of Great Vigor
Nine in the second place · 大壯 dà zhuàng
爻辭 The line text
貞吉。The second line, undivided, shows that with firm correctness there will be good fortune.
九二貞吉，以中也。'The second line, undivided, shows that with firm correctness there will be good fortune:'—this is due to its being in the centre, (and its subject exemplifying the due mean).
In plain words
The text is two characters long: steadiness, good fortune. Line two is yang in a yin place — strong, but sitting in a position that tempers it — and it holds the centre of Qian, the lower trigram of pure strength. It corresponds to the yin ruler at five, so its vigour has somewhere to go and someone to answer to. The small Image attributes the good fortune entirely to centrality (以中也). Among four rising yang lines this is the one that keeps the mean, and the hexagram's Judgment, 'steadiness is favourable', is fulfilled here more plainly than anywhere else.
If this line is changing
Use your strength from the middle, neither flaunting it nor hiding it; steadiness in a strong position is itself the right action.
Where the line stands
- A solid line, yang — written 九 (nine), the number of an old yang line that moves when cast.
- It is not in its correct place (不當位): a yang line in an even position or a yin line in an odd one, which the tradition reads as a line under some strain — often the reason a text sounds a warning.
- It is central (中): the middle line of its trigram, the position the commentaries read as balanced and most favourable.
- It belongs to the lower trigram 乾 Qian (the Creative) (heaven).
- It corresponds (應) with line 5: one yin and one yang, the two lines answer each other across the hexagram.
之卦 When this line moves
大壯 Great Vigor becomes ䷶ 55 豐 Plenty
Thunder and lightning together: abundance. The king reaches it; no sorrow — be like the sun at noon. But the sun at noon begins to set: fullness is a moment, not a possession.
What it becomes55 · 豐 PlentyfēngThe six lines of 大壯 Great Vigor
- 初九Nine at the beginningstrength in the toes · charging ahead · certain exhaustion
- 九二Nine in the second placecentred strength · steadiness · the mean
- 九三Nine in the third placethe ram and the fence · brute force · the net of restraint
- 九四Nine in the fourth placethe fence gives way · axle of the great cart · strength that carries
- 六五Six in the fifth placelosing the ram · letting hardness go · ease
- 上六Six at the topstuck on the fence · neither forward nor back · difficulty brings good
Read 大壯 Great Vigor for a question about
Questions about this line
- What does Nine in the second place of hexagram 34, Great Vigor, mean?
- The text is two characters long: steadiness, good fortune. Line two is yang in a yin place — strong, but sitting in a position that tempers it — and it holds the centre of Qian, the lower trigram of pure strength. It corresponds to the yin ruler at five, so its vigour has somewhere to go and someone to answer to. The small Image attributes the good fortune entirely to centrality (以中也). Among four rising yang lines this is the one that keeps the mean, and the hexagram's Judgment, 'steadiness is favourable', is fulfilled here more plainly than anywhere else.
- What does hexagram 34 become when line 2 changes?
- Great Vigor becomes hexagram 55, 豐 Plenty: Thunder and lightning together: abundance. The king reaches it; no sorrow — be like the sun at noon. But the sun at noon begins to set: fullness is a moment, not a possession.
- Is line 2 of Great Vigor in its correct place?
- It is not in its correct place (不當位): a yang line in an even position or a yin line in an odd one, which the tradition reads as a line under some strain — often the reason a text sounds a warning. It is central (中): the middle line of its trigram, the position the commentaries read as balanced and most favourable.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi (Wuyingdian lineage). English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East XVI, 1882 (public domain).