Also known as The Power of the Great, Great Strength, Great Vigor.
The characters 大壯 mean "great" and "strong". Hexagram 34 is about strength at its height: four solid lines rising from below, pushing hard. The danger is using power just because you have it. Real strength knows when not to charge.
The figure
Thunder over Heaven. Thunder rolls high in the sky, all noise and force. Heaven's strength below drives thunder's movement above, which makes a great surge of energy.
The judgment
It pays to hold.
That's the whole of it. When you're this strong, the one thing that matters is staying steady and right.
The image
Thunder up in the sky, all noise and force. Do not step anywhere you should not.
The test of power is restraint. Don't go where you have no right to go, however easily you could.
The six lines
Counted from the bottom, the way the figure is built when you cast it.
- Line 1, at the bottom. Strength in the toes. Going forward now goes badly. That much is certain. Power at the start, with nothing behind it yet.
- Line 2. Holding steady goes well. Keep to the middle.
- Line 3. The petty person uses force. The person of character doesn't. Pushing on is dangerous: a ram butts a hedge and gets its horns stuck.
- Line 4. Holding steady goes well, and regret goes. The hedge opens and nothing gets stuck. Strength like the axle of a big cart, quiet and bearing load.
- Line 5. The ram is lost easily. No regret. Letting go of stubbornness costs you nothing.
- Line 6, at the top. A ram charges the fence and gets stuck, unable to advance or back out. Nothing helps. See the trouble for what it is, and it goes well.
Reading it for a question
Hexagram 34 says you have real power right now. Use it carefully. Don't force things, don't butt your head against walls, and let steadiness do what force can't.