Upper trigram
☳
Thunder · Zhen
Arousal and shock.
FamilyEldest son
ElementWood
Hexagram 34 of 64
☳☰ Great Power
Hexagram 34 of the 64, Great Power, is thunder above, heaven below — read as strength that must not be misused. Its six lines are 111001, counted from the bottom up, where a broken line is yielding and a solid one firm.
Lower trigram
☰
Heaven · Qian
Creative force.
FamilyFather
ElementMetal
From the Book of Changes itself
The Judgement and the Image
The Judgement
The power of the great. Perseverance furthers.
The Image
Thunder in heaven above. The superior person does not tread paths that do not accord with established order.
These two texts are the hexagram. Everything else — the trigram analysis, the line positions, the modern keyword — is commentary built on top of them. The Judgement states the situation and its outlook; the Image draws the practical conclusion, and by convention begins with what the trigrams show in nature.
Rendered in plain English from the canonical text rather than copied from any one translation. If you want a specific scholarly version, Wilhelm-Baynes and Lynn are the two usually recommended.
The six lines
Read from the bottom up. This figure runs yang yang yang yin yin yang — what each position means.
| Line | This hexagram | What the position means |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | ▬▬▬▬▬ yang | the situation past its peak — completion, or overreach |
| 5 | ▬▬ ▬▬ yin | the ruling position, usually the most favourable in the hexagram |
| 4 | ▬▬ ▬▬ yin | entering the outer sphere — proximity to authority, exposure |
| 3 | ▬▬▬▬▬ yang | the transition point, and the most dangerous position in the figure |
| 2 | ▬▬▬▬▬ yang | the inner sphere — home, private life, what you are among your own |
| 1 | ▬▬▬▬▬ yang | the beginning of the situation, still hidden and barely formed |
What the two trigrams do to each other
Inner and outer
The lower trigram is the inner situation — Heaven, creative force. This is what is happening in you, or in the private side of the matter.
The upper trigram is the outer situation — Thunder, arousal and shock. This is the world the inner position meets.
The five-element relation
Metal below controls Wood above. The inner position restrains the outer, which reads as holding back circumstance rather than being carried by it.
Read as a family
Read as family, this is Eldest son above and Father below. A child over a parent — an inversion of the expected order, and usually read as a situation where the junior position carries the initiative.
The eight trigrams are traditionally assigned family roles — Heaven is the father, Earth the mother, and the remaining six are three sons and three daughters. Which one sits above which is part of how a hexagram is read.
Calculated from the lines
Hexagrams connected to this one
Nuclear hexagram
18 · Work on the Decayed
Built from lines 2-3-4 and 3-4-5 of this figure — the hexagram hidden inside it. Read as what is happening beneath the surface of the situation.
Opposite hexagram
20 · Contemplation
Every line flipped. The same situation turned inside out — useful for seeing what you are not currently considering.
Inverse hexagram
33 · Retreat
The same figure turned upside down — traditionally read as the situation seen from the other party's side.
None of these are assigned by an author — each follows from the arrangement of lines.
The image
Thunder above, Heaven below.
Thunder over Heaven: arousal and shock meeting creative force.
That combination is the whole meaning of hexagram 34. Nothing about it is arbitrary — change either trigram and you get a different hexagram with a different reading, which is why the 64 form a system rather than a list.