Thunder moving out of danger: a hexagram of release, where trouble scatters and the wise course is to settle quickly instead of stirring up more.
Zhen ☳, thunder, whose quality is movement, stands above Kan ☵, water, sinking and perilous: movement that carries one out of danger. Zhu Xi glosses the name as the scattering of difficulty. Once trouble breaks up, he favors level, quiet ground and an early finish over a long commotion: return and settle if nothing remains to be done, and act early if something does.
Judgment (卦辭)
The text attached to the whole hexagram, read when no line is changing.
解，利西南。无所往，其來復吉。有攸往，夙吉。
Jie: the southwest is favorable. With nowhere to go, coming back brings good fortune. With somewhere to go, going early brings good fortune.
Zhu Xi glosses the name as the scattering of difficulty. Danger lies below and movement above: whoever can move from inside danger ends up outside it. Once hardship has broken up, the right state is level and quiet, the easy ground of the southwest, not a long stretch of commotion. In his reading of how the figure came from Hexagram 46, Sheng, a strong line moves up into that figure's earth trigram, while the second line keeps its central place. Hence the two cases: with nothing left to do, return and settle; with something left, go early and come back early.
Image (大象)
The Image commentary (象傳) reads the whole hexagram from its two trigrams.
雷雨作，解。君子以赦過宥罪。
Thunder and rain break out: Release. The noble person pardons errors and shows leniency toward offenses.
Thunder above and the rain of the water trigram below make a storm that breaks and clears. Zhu Xi adds no note here. The noble person carries the same release into dealings with others: errors are pardoned and offenses met with leniency, so that tension can end instead of lingering.
Lines (爻辭)
From the bottom line to the top. In the line names, nine (九) marks a yang line and six (六) a yin line.
Line 1, yin (初六)changing line in the shared reading
无咎。
No blame.
The text says only two words. Zhu Xi supplies the reasons: the difficulty has already broken up, the first line (初六) is yielding and stays low, and it has a proper partner in the fourth line above. What blame could there be? At the start of a release, quiet and a sound connection are enough.
Line 2, yang (九二)changing line in the shared reading
田獲三狐，得黃矢，貞吉。
In the hunt, three foxes are caught, and a yellow arrow is gained. Being correct and firm brings good fortune.
Zhu Xi admits that the imagery of this line is unclear to him. He records one suggestion: of the four yin lines, leave out the fifth, which is the ruler, and the remaining three are the foxes. Broadly, he reads the second line (九二) as a favorable sign for a hunt, and as a picture of clearing away the cunning and flattering to gain what is central and straight, the yellow arrow. Steadfast correctness keeps it favorable.
Line 3, yin (六三)changing line in the shared reading
負且乘，致寇至，貞吝。
Carrying a load on one's back while riding in a carriage invites robbers. Even if correct, there is humiliation.
Someone hauling a load like a porter while riding in a carriage makes a sight that draws robbers. For the full meaning Zhu Xi refers the reader to the Great Commentary (Xici), and glosses only the last words. The third line (六三) is weak and out of place, sitting on a strong line. Even if what it holds was gained honestly, he says, it is shameful, and only stepping away avoids the trouble.
Line 4, yang (九四)changing line in the shared reading
解而拇，朋至斯孚。
Let go of your big toe, and friends come and trust each other.
The big toe, in Zhu Xi's reading, is the first line, the low partner of the fourth line (九四). Both lines are out of their proper places, so their tie is not a correct one, and a yang line and a yin line are not of one kind. If the fourth line lets that attachment go, companions of the noble person's sort arrive and trust each other. Sometimes room must be cleared before the right company can come.
Line 5, yin (六五)changing line in the shared reading
君子維有解，吉，有孚于小人。
Only if the noble person brings release: good fortune. It is borne out in the petty people.
The fifth line (六五) holds the ruler's seat, but it is a yin line, the same kind as the three yin lines that stand for petty people. Good fortune comes only if it cuts itself loose from them. Zhu Xi glosses 孚 here not as trust but as proof: the sign that the noble person has truly let go is that the petty people withdraw. Real change shows in what actually leaves.
Top line, yin (上六)changing line in the shared reading
公用射隼于高墉之上，獲之，无不利。
The duke takes aim at a hawk perched on a high wall and brings it down. There is nothing that is not favorable.
Again Zhu Xi refers the reader to the Great Commentary (Xici) and adds nothing of his own. The picture at the top line (上六) is clear enough: a duke shoots a hawk perched high on a city wall and brings it down. Coming at the close of the release, the shot completes it, and the text sees nothing unfavorable in it.
If you drew this hexagram
Which text to read depends on how many lines are changing. With none, read the judgment; with one, read that line; with more, follow Zhu Xi's rules in the Yixue qimeng.
Text: Zhu Xi, Yuanben Zhouyi benyi (原本周易本義), Siku Quanshu Wenyuange copy, as transcribed by the Kanseki Repository (KR1a0031), corrected and punctuated by K-magpie. Translation and explanation: written by AI (Claude) from Zhu Xi's commentary and checked against the text and commentary. Sources and the list of corrections are on the Today's Hexagram page.
Characters corrected in this hexagram — Top line, yin (上六): 射準 → 射隼