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Hexagram 9 — Zhen, The Arousing
Chronological no. 9 (binary-weight order) · King Wen no. (traditional) 51 · 震
By Anibal Edelberto Amiot — Updated October 1, 2026
the eldest son
the eldest son
Thunder doubled: the image of shock. The blow strikes twice, one echoing the other, and what remains standing after such a jolt finally reveals its true solidity. This is the figure of trial that tests without destroying what is truly well-founded. Thus the noble one, in fear and trembling, examines and cultivates his own conduct: the outer shock, however brutal, can become the occasion for a salutary inner reckoning.
What remains standing after the shock is what was truly possessed. The shock creates nothing, it reveals: what collapses at the first tremor was never as solid as it seemed. This line says trial is always, in some way, a revealer of truth.
The six lines
At the base of the earth, fullness stirs: the yang onset that carried the whole figure now yields its place.
The receptive earth reaches its fullness: the silent welcome that carried the lower figure is about to assert itself.
At the threshold between earth and man, suppleness gathers weight: what once yielded by nature is about to harden.
In the action of man, fullness meets its limit: the initiative that led the figure folds back upon itself.
At the sage's seat, emptiness fills: the suppleness that governed with discretion gathers a new force.
At the summit, emptiness reaches its fullest extent and closes: the furthest opening turns toward its opposite.
Source: La Livrée d'Hermès, Anibal Amiot — chapter 7.1 (pp. 63–68). French version of this page.
For the notions used here — magic square, layer and casting, the Yi Jing — see the project lexicon.
The patterns of this hexagram
Eight 12×12 Jacquard patterns are generated from this hexagram, one for each admissible family of the system. Each has its own page: cell, tiling, recolourings and data.
Bases — YANG mutant
Bases — YANG
Pair of two — YANG + YIN mutant
Pair of two — YIN mutant + YANG mutant
Pair of two — YIN + YANG
Pair of two — YIN + YANG mutant
Triple — without YANG
Triple — without YANG mutant
Neighbouring hexagrams
8 — Yu, Enthusiasm · 10 — Jie, Deliverance
Hexagrams sharing a trigram
Same upper trigram (☳ Zhen): 8 — Yu, Enthusiasm · 10 — Jie, Deliverance · 11 — Gui Mei, The Marrying Maiden · 12 — Xiao Guo, Preponderance of the Small · 13 — Feng, Abundance · 14 — Heng, Duration · 15 — Da Zhuang, The Power of the Great
Same lower trigram (☳ Zhen): 1 — Fu, Return · 17 — Zhun, Difficulty at the Beginning · 25 — Sui, Following · 33 — Yi, Nourishment · 41 — Shi He, Biting Through · 49 — Yi, Increase · 57 — Wu Wang, Innocence
