Scryway

Hexagram 51

震 Zhèn · Shock

Legge: Kan

☳ Thunder (Zhèn) above ☳ Thunder (Zhèn)

Scryway summary

Modern commentary written for Scryway. Not part of the classic text.

Thunder repeated. Startle, then steadiness; fear that ends in composure.

The judgment

Kan gives the intimation of ease and development. When (the time of) movement (which it indicates) comes, (the subject of the hexagram) will be found looking out with apprehension, and yet smiling and talking cheerfully. When the movement (like a crash of thunder) terrifies all within a hundred li, he will be (like the sincere worshipper) who is not (startled into) letting go his ladle and (cup of) sacrificial spirits.

The image

(The trigram representing) thunder, being repeated, forms Kan. The superior man, in accordance with this, is fearful and apprehensive, cultivates (his virtue), and examines (his faults).

The lines, bottom to top

  1. Bottom line, solid

    The first line, undivided, shows its subject, when the movement approaches, looking out and around with apprehension, and afterwards smiling and talking cheerfully. There will be good fortune.

  2. Second line, broken

    The second line, divided, shows its subject, when the movement approaches, in a position of peril. He judges it better to let go the articles (in his possession), and to ascend a very lofty height. There is no occasion for him to pursue after (the things he has let go); in seven days he will find them.

  3. Third line, broken

    The third line, divided, shows its subject distraught amid the startling movements going on. If those movements excite him to (right) action, there will be no mistake.

  4. Fourth line, solid

    The fourth line, undivided, shows its subject, amid the startling movements, supinely sinking (deeper) in the mud.

  5. Fifth line, broken

    The fifth line, divided, shows its subject going and coming amidst the startling movements (of the time), and always in peril; but perhaps he will not incur loss, and find business (which he can accomplish).

  6. Top line, broken

    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.

Quoted from James Legge (trans.), The Yi King, Sacred Books of the East vol. XVI, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1882. Public domain. The image is from Legge’s Appendix II. Words in parentheses are Legge’s additions.