Hexagram 51 of 64
震 zhèn
The Arousing · Thunder
震 (zhèn, Thunder) above · 震 (zhèn, Thunder) below
The Judgment 卦辞
Thunder on thunder — the shock arrives, and shock again. Fear is the teacher: after the first start, keep serving your cup without spilling it. Composure through shock is success.
The Image 大象
Thunder doubled: the arousing. The wise person, fearful and examining, brings good fortune.
The six lines 爻辞
Each line of 震 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
Thunder arrives — trembling fear, then laughter returns. Good fortune: the shock taught, not broke, you.
「震来虩虩，后笑言哑哑，吉」
Line 2 · 六二
Thunder brings danger, fortunes lost — climb to the nine hills. Do not chase it: in seven days it returns.
「震来厉，亿丧贝，跻于九陵，勿逐，七日得」
Line 3 · 六三
Thunder that leaves you dazed — yet walking on does no harm.
「震苏苏，行无眚」
Line 4 · 九四
The thunder sinks into mud. The shock that should move you has stuck you instead.
「震遂泥」
Line 5 · 六五
Thunder coming and going — danger, yet nothing truly lost. Keep to the work at hand.
「震往来厉，亿无丧，有事」
Line 6 · 上六
Trembling hands, darting eyes — marching now is fatal. The thunder strikes the neighbor, not you: no blame, though tongues will wag.
「震索索，视矍矍，征凶。震不于其躬，于其邻，无咎。婚媾有言」
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 震 (Thunder) below — arousing shock — movement, initiative, sudden change. Where those two energies meet, 震 is born.
Ask Bu Gua — cast the coins for your question →