Hexagram 34 — Great Invigorating
King Wen #34 · plain-language meaning, the Image, and the classical text
Great strength in motion. The power is real — only rightness keeps it from harm.
What Hexagram 34 Means 白话解读
Hexagram 34 places heaven (乾) beneath thunder (震) — creative force pressing upward below, movement breaking out of stillness above. This is why the tradition reads it as “Great Invigorating”: great strength in motion. The power is real — only rightness keeps it from harm. Whenever you cast this figure, the classical reading points back to that turning of forces.
The Image 象傳
雷在天上，大壯；君子以非禮弗履。
(The trigram representing) heaven and above it that for thunder form Tâ Kwang. The superior man, in accordance with this, does not take a step which is not according to propriety.— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
Thunder rolls high in heaven: great power. The wise step nowhere that propriety forbids.— plain-English rendering by The Hexagrams2
Hexagram 34 in Real Questions 實問實答
With money and work
Great Invigorating describes great strength in motion. The power is real — only rightness keeps it from harm — and that is the posture the tradition recommends for practical matters under this figure: creative force pressing upward, held inside a larger setting of movement breaking out of stillness. It names a shape of timing, not a sum.
For a decision
If you cast Great Invigorating about a choice, the figure's counsel is the same movement it pictures: great strength in motion. The power is real — only rightness keeps it from harm. When lines move in your cast, read them against this base — the moving lines show which part of the figure is awake for you, and the changed hexagram shows where it is heading.
Questions About Hexagram 34
What does 大壯 (dà zhuàng) mean?
Hexagram 34 of the I Ching is named 大壯 (dà zhuàng), usually rendered "Great Invigorating" in English editions. Its figure is built from heaven (乾) below and thunder (震) above — creative force pressing upward beneath movement breaking out of stillness.
Is hexagram 34 a good omen?
The received text of hexagram 34 is warm: it contains 3 occurrences of 吉 (good fortune), 1 of 凶 (misfortune). The classical verdict is broadly favourable — with the lines' own conditions attached (the text notes possible regret 悔 where the moment is mishandled).
What does hexagram 34 mean in love?
In a relationship reading, Great Invigorating points to great strength in motion. The power is real — only rightness keeps it from harm. The figure pairs heaven (乾) beneath thunder (震) — creative force pressing upward meeting movement breaking out of stillness — which is the traditional picture of how this energy behaves between two people. For how to phrase a love question before casting, see our guide to asking the I Ching about love.
What does hexagram 34 mean for career and money?
Career and money questions read Great Invigorating through the figure itself: heaven (乾) below, thunder (震) above — creative force pressing upward held inside movement breaking out of stillness. The plain reading: Great strength in motion. The power is real — only rightness keeps it from harm. The text carries 3 mentions of 吉 (good fortune) and 1 of 凶 (misfortune), so it is read as workable — provided the conduct the lines describe is kept.
What do the changing lines of hexagram 34 mean?
A cast of hexagram 34 can produce moving lines. Each of the six lines has its own statement (爻辭) in the classical text below, read from the bottom up, and a moving line is read as the part of the figure that is awake for your question. When a line moves it turns into its opposite, and the whole figure becomes a second hexagram: changing every line of 34 gives hexagram 20, 觀 (Viewing). Every line also has a page of its own on this site — Line 1 through Line 6 under this hexagram — with the classical Chinese and Legge's translation side by side.
How is hexagram 34 related to the other hexagrams?
Changing every line of hexagram 34 gives hexagram 20 — 觀 (Viewing). Turned upside down it becomes hexagram 33 — 遯 (Retiring). Its nuclear hexagram — the inner pattern of lines 2 through 5 — is hexagram 43 — 夬 (Displacement).
Cast it yourself
Shake the tube, watch your own coins fall.
- The hexagram's classical meaning — judgment and all six lines
- Moving lines marked — but not read for you
- No account, no email, nothing to pay
Get the reading, not just the text
Same cast, read all the way through:
- Every line read for you — what each moving line means inside your question
- The changed hexagram — where your situation is heading, and how to read the turn
- A closing that answers you directly — act, wait, or say it out loud
New to casting? How it works · All 64 hexagrams
Related Hexagrams 錯綜互
The Classical Text 經文
利貞。
Da Zhuang indicates that (under the conditions which it symbolises) it will be advantageous to be firm and correct.— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
The Six Lines 爻辞
壯于趾，征凶，有孚。
The first NINE, undivided, shows its subject manifesting his strength in his toes. But advance will lead to evil,--most certainly.
貞吉。
The second NINE, undivided, shows that with firm correctness there will be good fortune.
小人用壯，君子用罔；貞厲。羝羊觸藩，羸其角。
The third NINE, undivided, shows, in the case of a small man, one using all his strength; and in the case of a superior man, one whose rule is not to do so. Even with firm correctness the position would be perilous. (The exercise of strength in it might be compared to the case of) a ram butting against a fence, and getting his horns entangled.
貞吉，悔亡；藩決不羸，壯于大輿之輹。
The fourth NINE, undivided, shows (a case in which) firm correctness leads to good fortune, and occasion for repentance disappears. (We see) the fence opened without the horns being entangled. The strength is like that in the wheel-spokes of a large waggon.
喪羊于易，無悔。
The fifth SIX, divided, shows one who loses his ram(-like strength) in the ease of his position. (But) there will be no occasion for repentance.
羝羊觸藩，不能退，不能遂，無攸利；艱則吉。
The sixth SIX, divided, shows (one who may be compared to) the ram butting against the fence, and unable either to retreat, or to advance as he would fain do. There will not be advantage in any respect; but if he realise the difficulty (of his position), there will be good fortune.
Line by Line 逐爻细读
1 Legge, James. The Yi King, Sacred Books of the East vol. XVI (1899), public domain. Classical Chinese from the received Zhouyi text.2 The Image (象傳) is an ancient text in the public domain; its plain-English gloss here is original to The Hexagrams, not a quotation from any copyrighted edition. · For reflection and entertainment — not financial, medical, or life advice.