Hexagram 51, line 3
六三Line 3 of Shock (Thunder)
Six in the third place · 震 zhèn
爻辭 The line text
震蘇蘇，震行无眚。The third line, divided, shows its subject distraught amid the startling movements going on. If those movements excite him to (right) action, there will be no mistake.
震蘇蘇，位不當也。'He is distraught amid the startling movements going on:'—(the third line) is in a position unsuitable to it.
In plain words
'The shock leaves him shaken and faint (蘇蘇); if the shock makes him go, no harm.' Line three is yin in a yang place at the top of the lower thunder, just where the second clap is about to begin: it is in the wrong position and it feels it. The small Image says simply 位不當也. But the line has an exit — 震行無眚: if the fright moves it out of its unsuitable place, nothing bad follows. Commentators read 蘇蘇 as the limp dread of someone who has not got the first shock's rule to steady them; what saves the line is not courage but motion in the right direction.
If this line is changing
If the shock has left you shaky, do not freeze where you are, because where you are is the problem; use the fright to move to a place that fits you better.
Where the line stands
- A broken line, yin — written 六 (six), the number of an old yin 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 belongs to the lower trigram 震 Zhen (the Arousing) (thunder).
- It has no correspondence (無應) with line 6: both lines are yin, so this line must find its support in its neighbours or in itself.
之卦 When this line moves
震 Shock (Thunder) 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 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 Six in the third place of hexagram 51, Shock (Thunder), mean?
- 'The shock leaves him shaken and faint (蘇蘇); if the shock makes him go, no harm.' Line three is yin in a yang place at the top of the lower thunder, just where the second clap is about to begin: it is in the wrong position and it feels it. The small Image says simply 位不當也. But the line has an exit — 震行無眚: if the fright moves it out of its unsuitable place, nothing bad follows. Commentators read 蘇蘇 as the limp dread of someone who has not got the first shock's rule to steady them; what saves the line is not courage but motion in the right direction.
- What does hexagram 51 become when line 3 changes?
- Shock (Thunder) 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 3 of Shock (Thunder) 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.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi (Wuyingdian lineage). English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East XVI, 1882 (public domain).