What this hexagram is about
Cloud and thunder stir together — the chaos and hardship of all things at their birth. Like the founding of any enterprise, the beginning meets obstruction at every turn; the time calls for watchful patience, for gathering strength and welcoming able helpers, and never for rushing rashly forward.
The Judgment 卦辞
元，亨，利，贞。勿用有攸往，利建侯。
Supreme success; favorable to persevere. Do not set out anywhere; it is favorable to install helpers.
The Image 大象传
《象》曰：云雷屯，君子以经纶。
Clouds and thunder gather; so the noble person brings order out of confusion.
Commentary on the Lines 小象传
虽磐桓，志行正也。
Though held back and circling, the will moves toward the right.
The Six Lines (hover over the figure above)
Six at the top乘马班如，泣血涟如。
The horse halts and will not move; grief runs so deep it weeps tears of blood — hardship at its extreme, with nothing left to lean upon.
Nine in the fifth place屯其膏，小贞吉，大贞凶。
Kindness is blocked, and what one would give cannot flow freely; in small matters, holding to what is right brings fortune, but in great ones there is danger.
Six in the fourth place乘马班如，求婚媾，往吉，无不利。
The horse hesitates and holds back — a suitor's careful restraint; to go forward in the end brings good fortune, and nothing is without benefit.
Nine in the third place即鹿无虞，惟入于林中，君子几不如舍，往吝。
To chase the deer without a guide is only to lose oneself deep in the forest; the wise read the moment and give up early, for to press on would bring distress.
Six in the second place屯如邅如，乘马班如。匪寇婚媾，女子贞不字，十年乃字。
The start is hard, caught between advance and retreat — the horse wheels round and round, going nowhere. The one who comes is no robber but a suitor; the maiden, keeping faith, withholds her consent, and only after long years does she at last agree to wed.
Initial Six磐桓，利居贞，利建侯。
Met by obstruction, one hesitates and can scarcely advance; hold to what is right without forcing the way, and it is fitting now to appoint helpers and establish support.