Hexagram 32
雷风恒
Duration
Upper Trigram
☳
震 (木)
Lower Trigram
☴
巽 (木)
Palace
震 Palace
Shi / Ying Lines
Shi: Line 3 · Ying: Line 6
The 震 trigram (木) sits above the 巽 trigram (木), forming 雷风恒. This hexagram belongs to the 震 Palace.
Judgment (卦辞)
Duration. Success. No blame. Perseverance furthers.
Image (象辞)
Thunder and wind: the image of Duration.
Line Texts (爻辞)
Seeking duration too hastily brings misfortune. (浚恒)
Remorse disappears. (悔亡)
He who does not give duration to his character meets disgrace. (不恒其德)
No game in the field. (田无禽)
Giving duration to character through perseverance. (恒其德)
Restlessness as an enduring condition brings misfortune. (振恒)
In-Depth Analysis
Hexagram 32, Heng (Duration), is Thunder above Wind - thunder and wind, the enduring cosmic forces that do not cease. This is the hexagram of constancy, of the long-term, of relationships and commitments that weather seasons. The judgment says Duration has success; no blame. The lines distinguish between seeking duration too hastily (misfortune) and giving duration to one's character through perseverance (good fortune for a woman, misfortune for a man - because duration must be appropriate to the situation). The hexagram teaches that true duration is not rigidity but steady adaptation within a fixed direction.
Historical Stories
📜 Queen Elizabeth II's reign: seventy years of duration through constant adaptation. She maintained the monarchy's symbolic role while the world transformed around her - Heng in action.
📜 The geological timescale: mountains erode, continents drift, but the processes themselves endure. Heng is the hexagram of processes, not fixed forms - thunder and wind that change yet persist.
Practical Applications
Career: Job-hopping and steadfast loyalty are both valid. Heng teaches that duration must fit the situation - do not force constancy where change is needed.
Relationships: Lasting love is not the absence of change but the commitment to change together. Wind shifts; thunder rolls; the sky endures.
Personal Growth: Commit to processes, not outcomes. 'I will write every morning' endures; 'I will finish a novel' collapses under pressure.