Kùn · Oppression
Upper trigram: ☱ Lake · lower trigram: ☵ Water
The water has drained from the lake; exhaustion and hindrance. Keep your serenity and your sure word despite adversity.
The ancient character draws a square, sealed enclosure inside which a great tree is imprisoned, its branches smothered by the walls. "Kun" symbolises confinement, the total blockage of vital energy in its impulse of extension — yet its visible roots recall that the resource remains accessible in the depths.
The material impasse and forced replenishment
This hexagram describes one of the most trying situations of the Yi Jing. You are in a state of material destitution, moral solitude or extreme fatigue. Your words are no longer heard by anyone ("the words are not believed"), your projects are prisoners of a rigid frame and you have no outside recourse left. Movement is impossible.
Lean on your deep roots and refuse despair
The strategy consists in making a radical turn inward. The Accomplished Being knows that when the outer roads are cut, they must "stake their life to accomplish their destiny" by drawing on their own spiritual resources. Do not try to justify yourself or to argue; accept the material constraint, calm your mind, and fortify your inner roots. It is through this heroic endurance that you will reverse the cycle.
Structurally, the figure joins the trigram of the Ravine/Water (Kan, anguish, trouble) below, beneath the trigram of the Marsh (Dui, dryness, the exhaustion of the water) above. The water has seeped away and fled through the bottom of the marsh, leaving the top dry. The challenge is to overcome the vertigo of lack by understanding that this trial is the ultimate occasion for forging strength of soul.
Each line is read only if it is changing in your cast. A changing line transforms the figure: the link under each text shows which hexagram it leads to.
Three-coin or yarrow-stalk cast, changing lines, outlook figure — computed on your device, no account.