Hexagram 51, line 6
上六Line 6 of Shock (Thunder)
Six at the top · 震 zhèn
爻辭 The line text
震索索，視矍矍，征凶。震不于其躬，于其鄰，无咎。婚媾有言。The topmost line, divided, shows its subject, amidst the startling movements (of the time), in breathless dismay and looking round him with trembling apprehension. If he take action, there will be evil. If, while the startling movements have not reached his own person and his neighbourhood, (he were to take precautions), there would be no error, though his relatives might (still) speak against him.
震索索，中未得也。雖凶无咎，畏鄰戒也。'Amid the startling movements he is in breathless dismay:'—he has not found out (the course of) the due mean. 'Though evil (threatens), he will not fall into error:'—he is afraid of being warned by his neighbours.
In plain words
At the top of the doubled thunder: 'the shock — shrinking and shrinking, eyes darting; to go forward is ominous. If the shock has not reached one's own person but one's neighbour, no blame; marriage talk brings words.' Line six is yin at the very end, outside the centre, and the small Image says 中未得也 — it has not found the mean. 索索 is the look of someone drained by fright, 矍矍 the eyes that cannot settle; to act in that state is bad. The line's way out is odd and precise: if the thunder has struck the neighbour (line five) rather than oneself, take the warning from that and stay put, 畏鄰戒也. Even so, those closest, the 婚媾, will have something to say.
If this line is changing
You are at the point where fear has become exhaustion, so do not move; take the warning from what just happened to someone near you and accept that staying still will draw some criticism.
Where the line stands
- A broken line, yin — written 六 (six), the number of an old yin 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 upper trigram 震 Zhen (the Arousing) (thunder).
- It has no correspondence (無應) with line 3: 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 ䷔ 21 噬嗑 Biting Together
Thunder and lightning: jaws closing on an obstacle. Something is in the way and must be bitten through — favourable for administering justice.
What it becomes21 · 噬嗑 Biting Togethershì kèThe 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 at the top of hexagram 51, Shock (Thunder), mean?
- At the top of the doubled thunder: 'the shock — shrinking and shrinking, eyes darting; to go forward is ominous. If the shock has not reached one's own person but one's neighbour, no blame; marriage talk brings words.' Line six is yin at the very end, outside the centre, and the small Image says 中未得也 — it has not found the mean. 索索 is the look of someone drained by fright, 矍矍 the eyes that cannot settle; to act in that state is bad. The line's way out is odd and precise: if the thunder has struck the neighbour (line five) rather than oneself, take the warning from that and stay put, 畏鄰戒也. Even so, those closest, the 婚媾, will have something to say.
- What does hexagram 51 become when line 6 changes?
- Shock (Thunder) becomes hexagram 21, 噬嗑 Biting Together: Thunder and lightning: jaws closing on an obstacle. Something is in the way and must be bitten through — favourable for administering justice.
- Is line 6 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).