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Hexagram 51 of 64

I Ching hexagram 51 ☳☳ The Arousing

I Ching hexagram 51, The Arousing, is thunder above, thunder below. In brief: shock repeated; sudden change. Counting from the bottom, its solid lines sit in places 1 and 4 and its broken lines in 2, 3, 5 and 6.

Lines, bottom up
⚊⚋⚋⚊⚋⚋ 100100 · 1 = solid
Trigrams
Thunder over Thunder Zhen ☳ / Zhen ☳
Every line changed
№ 57 The Gentle
In Legge, 1882
p. 172 Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16

Legge, The Yî King, 1882.

Paired with it line by line — changed, turned over or read from the inner lines: 57, The Gentle, 52, Keeping Still and 39, Obstruction.

Also with Thunder above: 16, Enthusiasm, 32, Duration and 34, Great Power.

Also with Thunder below: 3, Difficulty at the Beginning, 17, Following and 21, Biting Through.

To draw a hexagram of your own, cast the I Ching with three coins.

I Ching Hexagram 51: The Arousing

Upper trigram

☳

Thunder (Zhen) above

Arousal and shock.

FamilyEldest son
ElementWood

Lower trigram

☳

Thunder (Zhen) below

Arousal and shock.

FamilyEldest son
ElementWood

What the text says, in plain terms

The Judgement and the Image of hexagram 51

The Judgement

Shock, like a thunderclap. Fear arrives suddenly, but someone who stays composed can even laugh afterward — the shock becomes a reason to take things seriously.

The Image

Thunder doubled, rolling on and on. The lesson is to examine yourself honestly and set your life in order when shaken.

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 51 in James Legge’s translation

The Judgement
“Kăn 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 lî, 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 Kăn. The superior man, in accordance with this, is fearful and apprehensive, cultivates (his virtue), and examines (his faults).”

The lines

  1. Line 1 · bottom 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. Line 2 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. Line 3 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. Line 4 The fourth line, undivided, shows its subject, amid the startling movements, supinely sinking (deeper) in the mud.
  5. Line 5 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. Line 6 · top 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.
James Legge, trans., The Yî King, The Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1882), p. 172 — 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.

The Arousing for a decision

Something unexpected has happened. Steady yourself first, then act; use the jolt to review what needed changing anyway.

I Ching 51 in love and relationships

A sudden upset or revelation. Calm responses prevent a shock from becoming a lasting rupture.

Hexagram 51 at work

Crises, surprises and sudden change. Keep your composure, communicate clearly and treat it as a wake-up call.

The six lines of hexagram 51

Read from the bottom up. This figure runs yang yin yin yang yin yin — what each position means.

Hexagram 51: Thunder over Thunder
Hexagram 51, The Arousing, line by line from the bottomlineplace · answer1Line 1 · yang, solidin its placeno answer from 42Line 2 · yin, brokenin its placeno answer from 53Line 3 · yin, brokenout of placeno answer from 64Line 4 · yang, solidout of placeno answer from 15Line 5 · yin, brokenout of placeno answer from 26Line 6 · yin, brokenin its placeno answer from 3LowerZhenThunderUpperZhenThunderKing Wen sequence · read bottom to topastrohot.com

2 yang and 4 yin lines. Three of the six stand in their proper place, and none of the three pairs answer each other.

What the two trigrams do to each other

Inner and outer

Thunder below — arousal and shock — is the private, inner side of hexagram 51.

Thunder above — arousal and shock — is the world that side meets.

The five-element relation

Both trigrams are Wood, so nothing in the figure pulls against anything else. That makes the reading unusually single-minded — and unusually short of internal correction.

Read as a family

The eldest son sits both above and below. The same figure doubled — the purest form of what the trigram describes.

Calculated from the lines

Hexagrams connected to hexagram 51

Hexagram 39, Obstruction

Nuclear hexagram

39 · Obstruction

What is happening beneath the surface.

Lines 2–4 give Gen (Mountain) as the lower trigram, lines 3–5 give Kan (Water) as the upper.

Hexagram 57, The Gentle

Opposite hexagram

57 · The Gentle

The situation turned inside out.

Change all six lines and Thunder over Thunder becomes Wind over Wind.

Hexagram 52, Keeping Still

Inverse hexagram

52 · Keeping Still

The situation seen from the other side.

Turn the figure upside down and Thunder over Thunder becomes Mountain over Mountain.

None of these are assigned by an author — each follows from the arrangement of lines.

The image

Thunder above, Thunder below.

Thunder over Thunder: arousal and shock meeting arousal and shock.

← 50 · All 64 · 52 →

47 Oppression 48 The Well 49 Revolution 50 The Cauldron 52 Keeping Still 53 Development 54 The Marrying Maiden

Sources

  1. James Legge, trans., The Yî King, The Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1882), p. 172

Statements of fact on this page were checked against these sources in October 2026. How we choose and check sources: editorial policy.

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