Upper trigram
☳
Thunder (Zhen) above
Arousal and shock.
FamilyEldest son
ElementWood
Hexagram 34 of 64
I Ching hexagram 34 ☳☰ Great Power
I Ching hexagram 34, Great Power, is thunder above, heaven below. In brief: strength that must not be misused. Counting from the bottom, its solid lines sit in places 1, 2, 3 and 4 and its broken lines in 5 and 6.
- Lines, bottom up
- ⚊⚊⚊⚊⚋⚋ 111100 · 1 = solid
- Trigrams
- Thunder over Heaven Zhen ☳ / Qian ☰
- Every line changed
- № 20 Contemplation
- In Legge, 1882
- p. 129 Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16
Legge, The Yî King, 1882.
Lower trigram
☰
Heaven (Qian) below
Creative force.
FamilyFather
ElementMetal
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What the text says, in plain terms
The Judgement and the Image of hexagram 34
The Judgement
Great power. Strength is at its height, and the test is to use it correctly — force applied without regard for what is right turns against its user.
The Image
Thunder high in the sky. The lesson is to avoid any step that does not fit the proper order of things, however strong you feel.
A summary of meaning written for this site, not a translation — James Legge’s 1882 translation of the full text follows below. How the Judgement and the Image are read, and which translations to use →
Primary source
Hexagram 34 in James Legge’s translation
“Tâ Kwang indicates that (under the conditions which it symbolises) it will be advantageous to be firm and correct.”
“(The trigram representing) heaven and above it that for thunder form Tâ Kwang. The superior man, in accordance with this, does not take a step which is not according to propriety.”
The lines
- Line 1 · bottom The first line, undivided, shows its subject manifesting his strength in his toes. But advance will lead to evil,—most certainly.
- Line 2 The second line, undivided, shows that with firm correctness there will be good fortune.
- Line 3 The third line, undivided, shows, in the case of a small man, one using all his strength; and in the case of a superior man, one whose rule is not to do so. Even with firm correctness the position would be perilous. (The exercise of strength in it might be compared to the case of) a ram butting against a fence, and getting his horns entangled.
- Line 4 The fourth line, undivided, shows (a case in which) firm correctness leads to good fortune, and occasion for repentance disappears. (We see) the fence opened without the horns being entangled. The strength is like that in the wheel-spokes of a large waggon.
- Line 5 The fifth line, divided, shows one who loses his ram(-like strength) in the ease of his position. (But) there will be no occasion for repentance.
- Line 6 · top The sixth line, divided, shows (one who may be compared to) the ram butting against the fence, and unable either to retreat, or to advance as he would fain do. There will not be advantage in any respect; but if he realise the difficulty (of his position), there will be good fortune.
James Legge, trans., The Yî King, The Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1882), p. 129 — read the original text.
Words in parentheses are Legge’s own: in his preface he explains that they supply what the original writer left unsaid. “Undivided” and “divided” are his terms for yang and yin lines, counted from the bottom. The Image comes from the second appendix of the book, the Treatise on the Symbolism.
Great Power for a decision
You have the strength to act. Pause long enough to check that the action is justified and proportionate; pushing just because you can will backfire.
I Ching 34 in love and relationships
Strong feelings and strong wills. Restraint and fairness keep power from becoming pressure.
Hexagram 34 at work
A strong position — funding, authority, momentum. Use it with discipline rather than aggression.
The six lines of hexagram 34
Read from the bottom up. This figure runs yang yang yang yang yin yin — what each position means.
4 yang and 2 yin lines. Three of the six stand in their proper place, and the pairs 2–5 and 3–6 answer.
What the two trigrams do to each other
Inner and outer
Heaven below — creative force — is the private, inner side of hexagram 34.
Thunder above — arousal and shock — is the world that side 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
The eldest son sits above and the 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.
Calculated from the lines
Hexagrams connected to hexagram 34
Nuclear hexagram
43 · Breakthrough
What is happening beneath the surface.
Lines 2–4 give Qian (Heaven) as the lower trigram, lines 3–5 give Dui (Lake) as the upper.
Opposite hexagram
20 · Contemplation
The situation turned inside out.
Change all six lines and Thunder over Heaven becomes Wind over Earth.
Inverse hexagram
33 · Retreat
The situation seen from the other side.
Turn the figure upside down and Thunder over Heaven becomes Heaven over Mountain.
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.
Sources
Statements of fact on this page were checked against these sources in October 2026. How we choose and check sources: editorial policy.
Cite this page
AstroHot. “I Ching Hexagram 34: Great Power.” Accessed October 27, 2026. https://astrohot.com/i-ching/hexagram/34/
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