The 64 hexagrams · Hexagram 34

What does I Ching hexagram 34, Great Strength, mean?

The judgment

大壯：利貞。Great strength: it pays to hold firm.Zhou Yi 周易, 大壯, judgment. Source

The image

雷在天上，大壯；君子以非禮弗履。Thunder up in the sky. The noble person doesn't tread where propriety doesn't lead.Zhou Yi 周易, 大壯, image. Source

The six lines

Read from the bottom up. In a cast, only the lines that move are read, and they turn the hexagram into another one. Here they are in the original; a reading translates the moving lines and reads them for the question asked.

1. First line初九：壯于趾，征凶，有孚。
2. Second line九二：貞吉。
3. Third line九三：小人用壯，君子用罔，貞厲。羝羊觸藩，羸其角。
4. Fourth line九四：貞吉悔亡，藩決不羸，壯于大轝之腹。
5. Fifth line六五：喪羊于易，无悔。
6. Top line上六：羝羊觸藩，不能退，不能遂，无攸利，艱則吉。

The Chinese is the received text of the Zhou Yi; the English is ours. Lines and images that speak of punishments, prisons, illness or money are left out. For entertainment and self-reflection.

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