Hexagram 47 of 64
困 kùn
Oppression
兑 (duì, Lake) above · 坎 (kǎn, Water) below
The Judgment 卦辞
The water has drained away below — exhaustion, and no one listens. Do not talk your way out; hold your purpose quietly. Great people survive this and succeed.
The Image 大象
The lake without water: oppression. The wise person holds fast to their purpose, even to the point of exhaustion.
The six lines 爻辞
Each line of 困 has its own classical text. If a line in your cast is changing, its text is the heart of your reading.
Line 1 · 初六
Stuck sitting on a bare stump, sunk in the dark valley — three years unseen. The lowest point.
「臀困于株木，入于幽谷，三岁不见」
Line 2 · 九二
Hemmed in by abundance itself — the scarlet sash is coming. Sacrifice, stay put; marching is fatal. No blame.
「困于酒食，朱绂方来，利用享祀，征凶，无咎」
Line 3 · 六三
Trapped between stone and thorns; home at last — and the wife is gone. The darkest confinement.
「困于石，据于蒺藜，入于其宫，不见其妻，凶」
Line 4 · 九四
Coming slowly, held back by the golden carriage. Humbling — but it has an end.
「来徐徐，困于金车，吝，有终」
Line 5 · 九五
Cut and clipped, bound in scarlet — then, slowly, release. Keep the offering going.
「劓刖，困于赤绂，乃徐有说，利用祭祀」
Line 6 · 上六
Tangled in vines, precarious and swaying — move, regret, regret again: then going forward is good fortune.
「困于葛藟，于臲卼，曰动悔有悔，征吉」
If you drew this in a reading
A demanding pattern. This is one of the demanding patterns. It does not say "doom" — it says "the way through is narrow." Slow down, protect what matters, refuse shortcuts, and let the hexagram teach you the specific discipline it describes.
In yes/no questions this hexagram leans no — the pattern counsels holding back.
The trigrams give the flavor: 兑 (Lake) above — joyous openness — exchange, persuasion, pleasure shared — over 坎 (Water) below — the abysmal — depth, danger, flow through difficulty. Where those two energies meet, 困 is born.
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