震
“Shake” — King Wen #51
Thunder over thunder: sudden shock. Keep calm within, and movement outside succeeds.
The Judgment 卦辞
亨。震來虩虩，笑言啞啞。震驚百里，不喪匕鬯。
Zhen 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 I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
The Six Lines 爻辞
震來虩虩，後笑言啞啞，吉。
The first NINE, 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.
震來厲，億喪貝，躋于九陵，勿逐，七日得。
The second SIX, 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.
震蘇蘇，震行無眚。
The third six, divided, shows its subject distraught amid the startling movements going on. If those movements excite him to (right) action, there will be no mistake.
震遂泥。
The fourth NINE, undivided, shows its subject, amid the startling movements, supinely sinking (deeper) in the mud.
震往來，厲；億無喪，有事。
The fifth SIX, 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).
震索索，視矍矍，征凶。震不于其躬，于其鄰，無咎。婚媾有言。
The topmost SIX, 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.
Reading the Picture
Hexagram 51 places thunder (震) beneath thunder (震) —movement breaking out of stillness below, movement breaking out of stillness above. This is why the tradition reads it as “Shake”:thunder over thunder: sudden shock. Keep calm within, and movement outside succeeds Whenever you cast this figure, the classical reading points back to that turning of forces.
Questions About Hexagram 51
What does 震 (zhèn) mean?
Hexagram 51 of the I Ching is named 震 (zhèn), usually rendered "Shake" in English editions. Its figure pairs thunder (震) below with thunder (震) above.
Which trigrams form hexagram 51?
震 (Thunder) sits above and 震 (Thunder) sits below — the classical picture is movement breaking out of stillness beneath movement breaking out of stillness.
How is hexagram 51 related to the other hexagrams?
Changing every line of hexagram 51 gives hexagram 57 — 巽 (Ground). Turned upside down it becomes hexagram 52 — 艮 (Bound). Its nuclear hexagram — the inner pattern of lines 2 through 5 — is hexagram 39 — 蹇 (Limping).
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1 Legge, James. The Yi King, Sacred Books of the East vol. XVI (1899), public domain. Classical Chinese from the received Zhouyi text. · For reflection and entertainment — not financial, medical, or life advice.