Hexagram 32: Duration
Outer trigram (upper)
Chấn
Thunder · Wood
Inner trigram (lower)
Tốn
Wind · Wood
Judgment
恆：亨，无咎；利貞，利有攸往.
Translation
Heng (constancy, lasting long): success, no blame; favorable to hold to what is correct, favorable to have somewhere to go.
Commentary
Zhen above is thunder, Xun below is wind. Thunder and wind travel together without ceasing. Lines 2 and 5 hold the center, and lines 1 and 4 correspond as yin and yang — an image of lasting endurance. Heng is the virtue of enduring constancy, but this does not mean rigidity; rather, it is the capacity to change in step with the times.
Line Readings
Line 1 (yin)
初六：浚恆，貞凶，无攸利.
Translation
Seeking constancy too deeply and too soon — even holding to what is correct brings misfortune, and nothing is gained.
Commentary
Line 1, yin, is only just beginning yet already demands deep, lasting constancy — reaching high without a foundation, rigid and unyielding. Nothing is gained.
Line 2 (yang)
九二：悔亡.
Translation
Regret vanishes.
Commentary
Line 2, yang, holds the center but not a correct position (yang in a yin place), which would normally call for regret. But because it holds the center, the regret disappears.
Line 3 (yang)
九三：不恆其德，或承之羞，貞吝.
Translation
One's own character lacks constancy, and shame may follow — even holding to what is correct brings regret.
Commentary
Line 3, yang, does not hold the center; its character is inconstant and prone to change, and so it easily meets with shame.
Line 4 (yang)
九四：田无禽.
Translation
Hunting, but catching no game.
Commentary
Line 4, yang, does not hold the center and sits in the wrong place — like hunting in a spot where no game lives, one naturally catches nothing.
Line 5 (yin)
六五：恆其德，貞，婦人吉，夫子凶.
Translation
A constant, unchanging character, holding firm — good fortune for a woman, misfortune for a man.
Commentary
Line 5, yin, sits in a yang position, following line 2 unwaveringly, as a wife follows her husband — this is the virtue of constancy. For a woman, this is good; but for a man, or a ruler, to follow those below him so unwaveringly, without exercising his own judgment, is misfortune.
Line 6 (yin)
上六：振恆，凶.
Translation
Constancy itself is shaken — misfortune.
Commentary
Line 6, yin, sits at the very top of the hexagram Heng. Constancy, carried to its extreme, becomes shaken and is no longer steady — misfortune.