Obstruction
- In Chinese
- 蹇 jiǎn
- Above
- The Abysmal, water
- Below
- Keeping Still, mountain
Did you get this hexagram?
Mark your changing lines and keep your cast.
Mark my castWhat hexagram 39 means
Hexagram 39 is water above a mountain. Legge explains its name as “the symbol for incompetency in the feet and legs, involving difficulty in walking”.
The judgment does not forbid movement. It sorts it by direction. In Legge's words “advantage will be found in the south-west, and the contrary in the north-east”.
Four of the six lines weigh advancing against staying, and each time staying is the better course. The image turns the difficulty inward, where the superior man “turns round (and examines) himself, and cultivates his virtue”.
The judgment and the image
The judgment
蹇利西南，不利東北。利見大人。貞吉。
OBSTRUCTION. The southwest furthers. The northeast does not further. It furthers one to see the great man. Perseverance brings good fortune.
it furthers it is favorableit does not further it is not favorablegood fortune it goes well
The image
山上有水，《蹇》。君子以反身修德。
Water on the mountain: The image of OBSTRUCTION. Thus the superior man turns his attention to himself And molds his character.
What the commentaries say
The commentary on the judgment sees danger in front and praises the one who stops. It asks whether the person who “seeing the peril, can arrest his steps” is not wise.
Legge counts three things the judgment asks for. They are “attention to place, the presence of the great man, and the firm observance of correctness”. He adds that good circumstances and the great man “do not dispense from the observance of firm correctness”.
He reads the two directions as two kinds of ground, open country and mountains. In his note “The former is easily traversed and held; the latter, with difficulty.” The compass points become “a calculation of circumstances”.
Legge does not hide his doubt about the directions. He calls it “this difficult passage” and adds “I have been myself inclined to find less symbolism in it”.
The image is a mountain with water above it. Wilhelm gives its lesson in plain words. The superior man “turns his attention to himself And molds his character”.
Legge sums up what the figure teaches. A hard task is carried out “now by activity on the part of the ruler, and now by a discreet inactivity”.
The six lines
First line
往蹇來譽。
Going leads to obstructions, Coming meets with praise.
no verdict
The first line is told not to go. The commentary says it briefly, “the proper course is to wait”. Legge gives the reason. The line is weak in a place that calls for strength, and his advice is “Let him wait for a more favourable time.”
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 63, After Completion
Second line
王臣蹇蹇，匪躬之故。
The King's servant is beset by obstruction upon obstruction, But it is not his own fault.
no verdict
This line does not weigh going against staying. Its subject is a minister who works on “not with a view to his own advantage”. The commentary adds that “in the end no blame will be attached to him”, and Wilhelm reads that the trouble “is not his own fault”. Legge notes that the line is “weak, but in its proper place” and points to “Its correlation with the strong 5”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 48, The Well
Third line
往蹇來反。
Going leads to obstructions; Hence he comes back.
no verdict
This is a whole line in a strong place, yet Legge notes that “its correlate in 6 is weak, so that the advance of its subject would be unsupported”. So he comes back to those below him, and the commentary says that they “rejoice in him”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 8, Holding Together
Fourth line
往蹇來連。
Going leads to obstructions, Coming leads to union.
no verdict
Here staying means joining. Legge explains that “its subject could do little of himself”, but he stands “immediately below the king or great man”. He keeps close to him and waits for the time to act.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 31, Influence
Fifth line
大蹇，朋來。
In the midst of the greatest obstructions, Friends come.
no verdict
The fifth line holds the central place. Legge calls it “the king, the man great and strong”. He faces the greatest difficulties and he is not alone, since “friends are coming to help him”. The commentary gives the reason, “he is in the central position, and possesses the requisite virtue”. Legge says who the friends are. In his note “the subjects of 2 and the other lines of the lower trigram give their help”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 15, Modesty
Sixth line
往蹇，來碩，吉，利見大人。
Going leads to obstructions, Coming leads to great good fortune. It furthers one to see the great man.
good fortune it goes wellit furthers it is favorable
The top line is the one line with good fortune. Legge asks where it could still go, since “The action of the hexagram is over”. Its subject stays, and the commentary names his purpose, which is “to assist the (subject of the line) inside of him”. Legge puts it as advice, to “serve the great man immediately below him. So shall he also be great”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 53, Development
Hexagram 39 unchanging
If none of your six lines is moving, you read the hexagram as a whole. That is the judgment and the image above, without any of the line texts.
The book gives the reason. Lines that do not move are “non-moving lines, which serve only as structural matter in the hexagram, without intrinsic meaning of their own”.
For hexagram 39 unchanging, what remains is the judgment, with its two directions, its great man and its firmness, and the image that turns a person back to examine himself.
Questions people ask
What does hexagram 39 mean?
It describes a time of difficulty in which pressing forward makes things harder. The judgment says “advantage will be found in the south-west, and the contrary in the north-east”, and it favors meeting the great man and staying firm.
What does hexagram 39 unchanging mean?
With no moving lines you read only the judgment and the image. For hexagram 39 that is the advice on direction, on the great man and on firmness, and the image of a person who “turns his attention to himself”.
What does hexagram 39 changing to 53 mean?
It is hexagram 39 with its top line moving. That line advises against going forward and ends in “good fortune”, and when it changes the hexagram becomes number 53.
What does hexagram 39 changing to 15 mean?
It is hexagram 39 with its fifth line moving. That line shows its subject “struggling with the greatest difficulties, while friends are coming to help him”, and when it changes the hexagram becomes number 15.
Richard Wilhelm, translated by Cary F. Baynes. Kien in James Legge. Obstruction in Wilhelm and Baynes.
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