Great Power
- In Chinese
- 大壯 dàzhuàng
- Above
- The Arousing, thunder
- Below
- The Creative, heaven
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Mark my castWhat hexagram 34 means
Hexagram 34 is thunder above heaven. Four whole lines stand below two broken lines, and Legge notes that “The strong lines predominate”.
The judgment is short. For a time like this, Legge has “it will be advantageous to be firm and correct”.
The lesson is that strength is not enough by itself. Legge writes that “strength should be held in subordination to the idea of right, and exerted only in harmony with it”.
The judgment and the image
The judgment
大壯利貞。
THE POWER OF THE GREAT. Perseverance furthers.
it furthers it is favorable
The image
雷在天上，《大壯》。君子以非禮弗履。
Thunder in heaven above: The image of THE POWER OF THE GREAT. Thus the superior man does not tread upon paths That do not accord with established order.
What the commentaries say
The commentary on the judgment describes the figure in a few words. In it we see “that which is great becoming strong”.
It also says where the vigour comes from. One trigram stands for strength and the other for movement, and the commentary sees “the (trigram) denoting strength directing that which denotes movement”.
The same commentary ties greatness to being right. In its words “that which is great (should be) correct”. It ends on a wide claim. “Given correctness and greatness (in their highest degree), and the character and tendencies of heaven and earth can be seen.”
The image is thunder above heaven. From it the commentary draws a rule of conduct. The superior man “does not take a step which is not according to propriety”.
Wilhelm gives the same rule as a matter of paths. The superior man “does not tread upon paths That do not accord with established order”.
Legge puts the matter as a question and answers it himself. “Was strength alone enough for the conduct of affairs? No.”
The six lines
First line
壯于趾，征凶有孚。
Power in the toes. Continuing brings misfortune. This is certainly true.
misfortune it goes badly
Strength shows in the toes. The text warns that “advance will lead to evil”, and the commentary adds that it “will certainly lead to exhaustion”. Legge gives the reason. Such a step “is too bold to be undertaken by one in the lowest place”. Wilhelm has “Continuing brings misfortune.”
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 32, Duration
Second line
貞吉。
Perseverance brings good fortune.
good fortune it goes well
The line is brief. It speaks only of firm correctness and good fortune. The commentary says the fortune “is due to its being in the centre”, and Legge adds that here “the strength is tempered by its being in an even place”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 55, Abundance
Third line
小人用壯，君子用罔，貞厲。羝羊觸藩，羸其角。
The inferior man works through power. The superior man does not act thus. To continue is dangerous. A goat butts against a hedge And gets its horns entangled.
danger there is danger
Two people stand on this line. The small man is “one using all his strength”, and the superior man is “one whose rule is not to do so”. The text warns that “Even with firm correctness the position would be perilous.” The picture is “a ram butting against a fence, and getting his horns entangled”. Legge explains the caution of the superior man, for whom “the position is beyond the safe middle”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 54, The Marrying Maiden
Fourth line
貞吉，悔亡。藩決不羸，壯于大輿之輹。
Perseverance brings good fortune. Remorse disappears. The hedge opens; there is no entanglement. Power depends upon the axle of a big cart.
good fortune it goes wellremorse disappears regret fades away
The line begins with a case in which “firm correctness leads to good fortune, and occasion for repentance disappears”. Then the fence gives way. The text shows “the fence opened without the horns being entangled”, and compares the strength to “the wheel-spokes of a large waggon”. The commentary says the subject of the line “still advances”. Legge reads the advance as a cautious one, so that “his strength will produce good effects”. Where Legge has wheel-spokes, Wilhelm has “Power depends upon the axle of a big cart.”
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 11, Peace
Fifth line
喪羊于易，无悔。
Loses the goat with ease. No remorse.
no remorse there is nothing to regret
This is the first broken line, and here the ram is lost. Its subject “loses his ram(-like strength) in the ease of his position”, and the text finds “no occasion for repentance”. The commentary says “He loses his ram and hardly perceives it”, and gives as the reason that “he is not in his appropriate place”. Legge says this person “will cease therefore to exert his strength”. He adds that the hexagram “does not forbid the employment of strength, but would only control and direct it”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 43, Breakthrough
Sixth line
羝羊觸藩，不能退，不能遂，无攸利，艱則吉。
A goat butts against a hedge. It cannot go backward, it cannot go forward. Nothing serves to further. If one notes the difficulty, this brings good fortune.
nothing that would further nothing is favorablegood fortune it goes well
The ram is back at the fence, “unable either to retreat, or to advance as he would fain do”. The text sees no advantage, yet it leaves a way out. Good fortune comes “if he realise the difficulty (of his position)”. The commentary puts the trouble down to “his want of care”, and says of the one who sees the difficulty that “his error will not be prolonged”. In Legge's note the person “reflects and rests”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 14, Great Possession
Hexagram 34 unchanging
If none of your six lines is moving, you read the hexagram as a whole. That is the judgment and the image above, without any of the line texts.
The book gives the reason. Lines that do not move are “non-moving lines, which serve only as structural matter in the hexagram, without intrinsic meaning of their own”.
For hexagram 34 unchanging, what remains is the advice of the judgment to be firm and correct, and the image of thunder above heaven, which asks for no step outside propriety.
Questions people ask
What does hexagram 34 mean?
It describes a time with “abundance of strength and vigour”, and it asks that the strength stay correct. The judgment says “it will be advantageous to be firm and correct”.
What does hexagram 34 unchanging mean?
With no moving lines you read only the judgment and the image. For hexagram 34 that is the advice to be firm and correct, and the rule to take no step outside propriety.
What does hexagram 34 changing to 11 mean?
It is hexagram 34 with its fourth line moving. That line shows “the fence opened without the horns being entangled”, and when it changes the hexagram becomes number 11.
What does hexagram 34 changing to 43 mean?
It is hexagram 34 with its fifth line moving. That line shows one who “loses his ram(-like strength) in the ease of his position”, without occasion for repentance, and when it changes the hexagram becomes number 43.
What is the ram in hexagram 34?
Legge's text names the ram in three lines. In the third it butts a fence and is caught, in the fifth it is lost, and in the sixth it is at the fence again, unable to go back or forward. Legge reads it as a picture of strength pushed too far, where one may “injure himself, like the ram, by exerting his strength”.
Richard Wilhelm, translated by Cary F. Baynes. Tâ Kwang in James Legge. The Power of the Great in Wilhelm and Baynes.
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