震
GUA 51 · ZHEN
AROUSAL
Overall Image (大象)
Resounding thunder
Arousal
The noble young one makes use of fear and alarm
to adjust and examine▼
Overall Image (大象)
Resounding thunder
Arousal
The noble young one makes use of fear and alarm
to adjust and examine
Thunder reverberates through the dark clouds above. Those bound to reflex actions are moved to much motion by fear. Those who live to learn come to turn fear into courage and grace, and to sort what reacts from what drives. Wise ones might show reverence in power’s face, yet sneak up behind it with a bridle in hand. Fear is just information when it’s not allowed to lead. Thunder’s first peal surprises, but novelty turns into experience. How can a response be worthy of such a stimulus? When the quality of our echoes inform us of our substance. We learn in time that the things which collapse have had their life, and the things which move, move into their places.
Main Judgment (Arousal) (卦辞)
Fulfillment
Shock brings fear and alarm
And mirthful words and echoing laughter
The thunder startles for a hundred li * around
But do not let drop the ladle of sacred wine▼
Main Judgment (Arousal) (卦辞)
Fulfillment
Shock brings fear and alarm
And mirthful words and echoing laughter
The thunder startles for a hundred li * around
But do not let drop the ladle of sacred wine
Lizards and tigers alike react to the powerful shocks. But the master of the temple learns to hear laughter in the storm and affirmation in its thunder. Whatever might perish has already had its day, and that which has yet to settle is rattled into place. He learns to look for what thrives here as stable, attuned and ready. Remembering once having cowered, and how little value this had, today his composure is gained, not lost to the shock. It’s as though the storm were calling out for heroes or hunters or warriors. The shock simply washes through him since he has learned to be ready. Of course he now knows that the thunder follows the flash. The mature one steps up like an echo, not missing the rhythm, having already owned the experience and made its energy into his own. The grace and style of the self-possessed is a benefit of the experience. In the ready state of mind, novelty washes through us, leaving us better adjusted. The master is alert, not excited; primed, not anxious. He is not disengaged or neutral. He has one moment, between the stimulus and his response, to make his choice and convert one kind of arousal into another. He’ll even hear with authority.
Key Words (关键词)
Stimulus & response, action & reaction, motive & motion; reaction into response▼
Key Words (关键词)
Stimulus & response, action & reaction, motive & motion; reaction into response
Shake up, provocation; suddenness, surge, raw energy, net motive force, arousal The unexpected, novelty, surprise, startle reflex; repercussion, resounding, retort Awakening, quickening, exhilaration, invigoration, challenge, motivation, starting Mastery, maturity, experience, getting one’s grip, composure, attunement, aplomb Nimbleness, resilience; hunting, capturing & using ambient energy; taking charge
Structure & Connections
Structure Class
Xun-Zhen Family
This classification indicates the hexagram's role in the 12 Sovereign Cycle (Earthly Branches) or its structural family.
Astrology
note:Aries Ascending, Mutable Fire
element:Fire
Tarot
card:King of Wands
suit:Wands
Qabalah
note:Atziluth of Atziluth
sphere:Atziluth
The Lines
11st • YangThe shock brings fear and alarm
And later, mirthful words and echoing laughter
Promising▼
1
1st • YangThe shock brings fear and alarm
And later, mirthful words and echoing laughter
Promising
51.1x The shock brings fear (and) alarm:
The fear leads to well-being
* Mirthful words (and) echoing laughter:
After there is a precedent
A reflex reaction, and then an elective response. With the first shock he runs to the doorway, too close to a mindless fear. This fails to do any good. After the second he grins and begins to make jokes about his haste. The world did not end: things only settled a little. We discover ourselves in reactions, and some of us learn from these. We’re wired to be awakened by the novel and unfamiliar, and we’re often just put to sleep by what is known. But isn’t it odd how apprehension to some means anxiety, and to others means getting a grip or grasp? Awe to some is awful, and yet to others it’s a high form of reverence. The latter perhaps know change as something needed, stimulation to keep life and knowledge fresh, something to jolt us awake, shock us out of our slumber and daydreams. The learning here will favor one who is ready.
22nd • YangThe shock comes with adversity
A hundred thousand times one loses possessions
And scrambles up the nine hills
To not give chase
Means seven days to gain▼
2
2nd • YangThe shock comes with adversity
A hundred thousand times one loses possessions
And scrambles up the nine hills
To not give chase
Means seven days to gain
51.2x The shock comes with adversity:
Rely upon firmness
A stimulus as potent as this will offer him great knowledge, of and about his values. He might be left with no choice but to leave his belongings behind him and climb up the nine hills to safety. His alarm may be true or false, but his motion, with what ever he chooses to carry out, is real. What he is in truth, that developing flame within, will be destroyed only once in each lifetime. But what he thinks he might be, by equating himself with all those beliefs and belongings, could be tested, abused and destroyed one hundred thousand times. Driven into the hills, he tries to rise above it all, up and out of harm’s way, and look philosophically down. Things that he truly needs will be restored within seven days, simply because he cannot live without them, while the things not replaced are not needed. This tests not his worth but his worth’s worth.
33rd • YangThe shock awakens and revives
Be excited to movement instead of distress▼
3
3rd • YangThe shock awakens and revives
Be excited to movement instead of distress
51.3x The shock awakens (and) revives:
The position (was) not appropriate
Shock comes and it leaves him distraught and confounded. Perhaps he thinks that the sky shouts at him in some unknowable tongue, with some kind of rage or fury. Thunder does not care about him. What he may do in response is a choice, which gives human meaning to thunder. Indulgence in his fear will leave him numb and exposed, like a bug waking up in the cold, without wit or useful reaction. A bolder stance will find ways to steal the thunder, to put it to a better use and to turn the fear into courage and strength. This thunder can be a great wake up call, exhilarating and quickening. We might allow the thunder to take us, but forward instead of aback. We allow it to drive us, but we still do the guiding. We can let it shake out our worst and bring out our best. But first we must maintain our center of balance and gravity.
44th • YangThe shock is followed by muddledness▼
4
4th • YangThe shock is followed by muddledness
51.4x The shock (is) followed by muddledness:
Less than exemplary
Sinking deeper into shock, not even thunder excites him to movement. This was all too much to take charge from. Now would he plant himself in the wet earth, like a tuber, and bear only fungus for fruit, rather than keep his sense alive and respond to more wild reality. Now he insulates himself and tries to dull his senses, that all nasty shock might be muted. But this is more taxing and deadly than facing raw power and staying awake for more. To enter a state of shock in response to a wound can kill where the injury fails. When one’s will to go on living is tied to one’s fortune in life, it will be dragged all over the place. Power should be hunted or stolen instead. Even a misfortune can be considered fair game. Great stimulus wants a more worthy response than a lost will to live. A stunned acceptance is not a great way to accept.
55th • YangThe shock whether going or coming is trouble
The intentions* will not be lost where there is work to be done▼
5
5th • YangThe shock whether going or coming is trouble
The intentions* will not be lost where there is work to be done
51.5x The shock (whether) going (or) coming (is) trouble:
Exposure (in) action
* (Where) one’s work to be done lies in the middle
Completely without loss
Shock comes bringing lots of excitement, and plenty of power to move anywhere, right, left, or wrong. One may choose and embrace the pro or the con and thus gain fully half of the power at hand, but only to face its equal when equations resolve into zero. Take a look at the one who walks the high wire: he does his business by going straight forward, calmly in concentration, along his narrow, middle path. His right and left are equally wrong and inferior as choices, but they are also equally useful in keeping his balance. All movement helps him go forward. Right and left, in such cases, can be said to belong to a lesser dimension, a greater one being success in life and continuing to go forward. The forces and the movements not central to the work can still be taken and turned, thought of as vectors, or made to serve higher purpose.
6 • Yang(Fan Yao* 21.6: wearing the cangue, hiding ears, unfortunate)
The shock startles and confuses
Searching in wild-eyed panic
To go boldly is ominous
The shock is not in one’s being
Merely in one’s neighborhood
Make no mistakes
Even the marital suitor* might have something to say▼
6
• Yang(Fan Yao* 21.6: wearing the cangue, hiding ears, unfortunate)
The shock startles and confuses
Searching in wild-eyed panic
To go boldly is ominous
The shock is not in one’s being
Merely in one’s neighborhood
Make no mistakes
Even the marital suitor* might have something to say
51.6x The shock startles (and) confuses:
The balance is not yet achieved
* Even though ominous, make no mistakes:
Pay heed to the neighboring warnings
Explosive shock brings ruin all the way up to his doorstep. This is about as close up as vicarious ever gets. His neighbors are in big trouble but cannot seem to respond in appropriate ways. Yet it isn’t a failure of sympathy to refuse to go out for his own fair share of misfortune. He cannot be of much use to his neighbors if first he fails to save himself. It may be with the warmest intentions that he casts his cold gaze on their wild-eyed panic and judges their terror for things not to do. It might leave him able to help when he can. Now the neighbors are object lessons, materials for study. Heeding their words of warning can be as effective as having this shocking thing happen directly to him. Any small part of the greater event, even the poor, confused victim, might hold some useful intelligence, or first-rate second-hand information.
Reference in Original Text & Resources
This content is derived from Bradford Hatcher's THE BOOK OF CHANGES: Yijing, Word By Word.
Original text for Hexagram 51 begins on Page 366-374.
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