Hexagram 34 · Lower canon
Da Zhuang · Great Power
With strength, use it on the straight road.
The figure
- Number
- 34 (Lower canon)
- Upper trigram
- Thunder (Zhen)
- Lower trigram
- Heaven (Qian)
- Keywords
- power · self-control · right path
- Reversed hexagram
- Guan · Contemplation
- Inverted hexagram
- Dun · Retreat
The meaning
What the name means Da Zhuang is great strength, full and flourishing.
The picture Thunder in the sky, a great sound and plenty of power.
The sense of the whole The whole hexagram is about the time when you are strong. When you have strength, keep to the rules: strength you do not misuse is true strength, and charging ahead is how horns get broken.
In plain words: what this hexagram says
You are full of drive. Use a strong arm on the straight road; do not show off and do not run into that wall.
The upper trigram is Thunder and the lower is Heaven: Thunder above, Heaven below. When you read it, first picture the two together as a scene, then set it against the original below. The plain words speak only of stance and do not foretell.
The judgement
利貞。
The image
雷在天上，大壯；君子以非禮弗履。
The six lines
From the bottom up, the first line is the lowest. When you cast this hexagram and a line is changing, read the matching one. The original is classical Chinese.
- 初九壯於趾，徵兇，有孚。
- 九二貞吉。
- 九三小人用壯，君子用罔，貞厲。羝羊觸藩，羸其角。
- 九四貞吉悔亡，藩決不羸，壯於大輿之輹。
- 六五喪羊於易，無悔。
- 上六羝羊觸藩，不能退，不能遂，無攸利，艱則吉。
To learn how to read a hexagram, see "How to read a hexagram"; for changing lines, see "Changing lines and the resulting hexagram".