Hexagram 51, line 1
初九Line 1 of Shock (Thunder)
Nine at the beginning · 震 zhèn
爻辭 The line text
震來虩虩，後笑言啞啞，吉。The first line, undivided, shows its subject, when the movement approaches, looking out and around with apprehension, and afterwards smiling and talking cheerfully. There will be good fortune.
震來虩虩，恐致福也。笑言啞啞，後有則也。'When the (time of) movement comes, he will be found looking out with apprehension:'—that feeling of dread leads to happiness. 'He yet smiles and talks cheerfully:'—the issue (of his dread) is that he adopts (proper) laws (for his course).
In plain words
The bottom line of Thunder repeats the judgment almost word for word: 'the shock comes, hu hu — afterwards, laughter and talk, ha ha; auspicious.' Line one is the ruler of the hexagram, the single yang line that rises under two yin lines and makes the whole trigram move; in the doubled hexagram it is the first clap. 虩虩 is the look of someone startled and alert; the laughter comes after, not instead. The small Image gives the sequence its meaning: dread brings blessing (恐致福), and the cheerful talk afterwards means that a rule has been found (後有則). Fear that is used becomes order.
If this line is changing
Let the jolt frighten you properly and look round before you do anything; the composure that follows is earned by the alarm, not by pretending there was none.
Where the line stands
- A solid line, yang — written 九 (nine), the number of an old yang line that moves when cast.
- It is in its correct place (當位): a yang line in an odd position or a yin line in an even one, which the tradition reads as a line at ease where it stands.
- It belongs to the lower trigram 震 Zhen (the Arousing) (thunder).
- It has no correspondence (無應) with line 4: both lines are yang, so this line must find its support in its neighbours or in itself.
之卦 When this line moves
震 Shock (Thunder) becomes ䷏ 16 豫 Delight
Thunder bursting out of the earth: music, enthusiasm, movement in harmony with the time. Favourable to appoint helpers and set things in motion.
What it becomes16 · 豫 DelightyùThe six lines of 震 Shock (Thunder)
- 初九Nine at the beginningfirst shock · fear then laughter · rules found
- 六二Six in the second placedanger · let it go · seven days
- 六三Six in the third placeunnerved · wrong place · move anyway
- 九四Nine in the fourth placestuck in mud · momentum lost · light not yet shining
- 六五Six in the fifth placegoing and coming · danger in the centre · nothing lost
- 上六Six at the toptrembling · neighbour's warning · hold back
Read 震 Shock (Thunder) for a question about
Questions about this line
- What does Nine at the beginning of hexagram 51, Shock (Thunder), mean?
- The bottom line of Thunder repeats the judgment almost word for word: 'the shock comes, hu hu — afterwards, laughter and talk, ha ha; auspicious.' Line one is the ruler of the hexagram, the single yang line that rises under two yin lines and makes the whole trigram move; in the doubled hexagram it is the first clap. 虩虩 is the look of someone startled and alert; the laughter comes after, not instead. The small Image gives the sequence its meaning: dread brings blessing (恐致福), and the cheerful talk afterwards means that a rule has been found (後有則). Fear that is used becomes order.
- What does hexagram 51 become when line 1 changes?
- Shock (Thunder) becomes hexagram 16, 豫 Delight: Thunder bursting out of the earth: music, enthusiasm, movement in harmony with the time. Favourable to appoint helpers and set things in motion.
- Is line 1 of Shock (Thunder) in its correct place?
- It is in its correct place (當位): a yang line in an odd position or a yin line in an even one, which the tradition reads as a line at ease where it stands.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi (Wuyingdian lineage). English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East XVI, 1882 (public domain).