Hexagram 34 of 64
大壮 dà zhuàng
Great Power
震 (zhèn, Thunder) above · 乾 (qián, Heaven) below
The Judgment 卦辞
You are strong and you know it — that is the danger. Power that charges without principle breaks itself. True greatness keeps the norms it could ignore.
The Image 大象
Thunder in heaven above: great power. The wise person does not walk where right conduct does not go.
The six lines 爻辞
Each line of 大壮 has its own classical text. If a line in your cast is changing, its text is the heart of your reading.
Line 1 · 初九
Strength in the toes — marching on raw force alone. Misfortune, though your conviction is real.
「壮于趾，征凶，有孚」
Line 2 · 九二
Hold the center and stay steady. Good fortune.
「贞吉」
Line 3 · 九三
The small use force; the wise let it pass through them. The ram butts the fence and tangles its horns.
「小人用壮，君子用罔，贞厉。羝羊触藩，羸其角」
Line 4 · 九四
The fence breaks, the horns free — power moving like a great cart's axle. Steady, and regret vanishes.
「贞吉悔亡，藩决不羸，壮于大舆之輹」
Line 5 · 六五
The ram lost at the easy boundary. Lose the contest gracefully — no blame.
「丧羊于易，无咎」
Line 6 · 上六
Horns stuck in the fence: cannot back out, cannot push through. Only enduring the difficulty brings good fortune.
「羝羊触藩，不能退，不能遂，无攸利，艰则吉」
If you drew this in a reading
A pattern of tension and craft. This hexagram belongs to the large middle family of mixed patterns: it works, but only along its own grain. Read the Judgment closely — mixed hexagrams usually name the exact condition on which their promise depends.
In yes/no questions this hexagram reads as “not yet clear” — the answer hinges on timing and execution.
The trigrams give the flavor: 震 (Thunder) above — arousing shock — movement, initiative, sudden change — over 乾 (Heaven) below — creative force — initiative, clarity, persistence. Where those two energies meet, 大壮 is born.
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