Hexagram 51 of 64
Thunder
震 Zhèn
Upper trigram: 震 Zhèn, thunder
Lower trigram: 震 Zhèn, thunder
The judgment
亨。震來虩虩，笑言啞啞。震驚百里，不喪匕鬯。
Success. Thunder comes, with fearful trembling. Talk and laughter ring out merrily. Thunder startles everyone for a hundred li, and the ladle and the aromatic wine are not lost.
The Great Image
洊雷，震；君子以恐懼修省。
Thunder comes again and again: this is Thunder. In the same way, the noble person, in fear and dread, corrects and examines the self.
The six lines
Lines are counted from the bottom. Read a line closely when it changes in your cast.
Line 1 初九
震來虩虩，後笑言啞啞，吉。
Thunder comes, with fearful trembling. Afterward, talk and laughter ring out merrily. Good fortune.
The fright comes first here and the laughter afterward. Consider what a scare you have already lived through could teach you now that you can laugh about it.
Line 2 六二
震來厲，億喪貝，躋于九陵，勿逐，七日得。
Thunder comes with danger. Reckoning the cowries as lost, climb the nine hills. Do not go after them. In seven days they are recovered.
Cowries were money in the world of this text, and here someone leaves them behind to reach high ground. Ask what you might let go of for now without chasing it.
Line 3 六三
震蘇蘇，震行无眚。
Thunder leaves one dazed and shaken. Moving on with the thunder, no calamity.
Being dazed is the starting point in this line and movement is what follows. Consider one small step you could take while you are still shaken.
Line 4 九四
震遂泥。
Thunder sinks into the mud.
A force that should carry you has bogged down here. Ask where alarm has stopped driving you to act and has only left you stuck.
Line 5 六五
震往來厲，億无喪，有事。
Thunder going and coming, with danger. Reckoning, nothing is lost. There is work to attend to.
The shocks keep coming and going, and the line still finds a task to be done. Consider what needs your attention even while things remain unsettled.
Line 6 上六
震索索，視矍矍，征凶。震不于其躬，于其鄰，无咎。婚媾有言。
Thunder, shuddering and shrinking. Eyes darting in alarm. Setting out brings misfortune. The thunder stays off one's own person and falls on one's neighbor. No blame. In a marriage alliance there is talk.
The trouble has landed next door and your eyes are still darting. Ask what you could learn from a neighbor's shock before you act, and consider that people close to you may have something to say about it.
What this hexagram says
This hexagram is thunder below and thunder above, with one solid line under two broken lines in each half. It shows a sudden shock that arrives and then arrives again. Tradition reads the solid line at the base as energy bursting up from beneath.
The judgment puts fear and laughter side by side. It then pictures someone at a rite who keeps hold of the ladle and the wine while the noise frightens a whole district. Ask what you would want to keep steady in your hands if something startling happened today.
If your question is about work, a household or a sudden change of plan, tradition reads this as a time for taking stock once the noise passes. The lines move from fright to getting stuck to watching a neighbor's trouble. They caution against setting out while you are still in a panic.
A hexagram is a prompt for reflection. It cannot promise a result, and it is no substitute for medical, legal or financial advice.
Where this text comes from
The Chinese follows the Wikisource text of the Zhou Yi (its page for this hexagram, 周易/震), compared with the Project Gutenberg edition. The Great Image comes from the Wikisource page 周易/大象.
- Wikisource, 周易
Retrieved 2026-11-08
- Project Gutenberg eBook 25501, 易經
Retrieved 2026-11-08
Read this hexagram with its traditional commentaries in our library.
Where the sources differ
- In the Great Image, Wikisource (A) reads 修省 (to correct and examine oneself). Project Gutenberg (B) reads 修身 (to cultivate one's person).
The English renderings and the advice are by Cast & Chart. The advice is a modern reading and is not part of the classical text.