Kun · Oppression

The meaning

What the name means Kun is being worn down, hemmed in.

The picture A lake with no water in it, the water drained away, dry and tired.

The sense of the whole The whole hexagram is about hardship. Resources are few and nobody believes your words. This is no time to argue much; keep the light inside you, hold to your belief, and let the work speak.

In plain words: what this hexagram says

Hemmed in, with words you cannot say. Hold on to your resolve first and do not say or do rash things just to get out.

The upper trigram is Lake and the lower is Water: Lake 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

亨，貞，大人吉，無咎，有言不信。

The image

澤無水，困；君子以致命遂志。

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. 初六臀困於株木，入於幽谷，三歲不覿。
2. 九二困於酒食，朱紱方來，利用享祀，徵兇，無咎。
3. 六三困於石，據於蒺藜，入於其宮，不見其妻，兇。
4. 九四來徐徐，困於金車，吝，有終。
5. 九五劓刖，困於赤紱，乃徐有說，利用祭祀。
6. 上六困於葛藟，於臲卼，曰動悔。有悔，徵吉。

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