Kan · The Abyss

The meaning

What the name means Kan is a pit, a danger, and water: one danger after another.

The picture Water above and water below, one wave after another, keeping its nature even as it flows into danger.

The sense of the whole The whole hexagram is about being in danger. Facing difficulty after difficulty, do not lose your good faith, and go step by step like water that fills each hollow before it moves on. Do not blame heaven or people.

In plain words: what this hexagram says

Danger after danger. Do not charge through; get over it slowly with sincerity and repeated practice, as water crosses the hills.

The upper trigram is Water and the lower is Water: Water above, Water below. When you read it, first picture the two together as a scene, then set it against the original below. The plain words speak only of stance and do not foretell.

The judgement

習坎，有孚，維心亨，行有尚。

The image

水洊至，習坎；君子以常德行，習教事。

The six lines

From the bottom up, the first line is the lowest. When you cast this hexagram and a line is changing, read the matching one. The original is classical Chinese.

1. 初六習坎，入於坎窞，兇。
2. 九二坎有險，求小得。
3. 六三來之坎坎，險且枕，入於坎窞，勿用。
4. 六四樽酒簋貳，用缶，納約自牖，終無咎。
5. 九五坎不盈，祇既平，無咎。
6. 上六系用徽纆，寘於叢棘，三歲不得，兇。

To learn how to read a hexagram, see "How to read a hexagram"; for changing lines, see "Changing lines and the resulting hexagram".