Oppression
- In Chinese
- 困 kùn
- Above
- The Joyous, lake
- Below
- The Abysmal, water
Did you get this hexagram?
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Mark my castWhat hexagram 47 means
Hexagram 47 describes a time of being hemmed in. Legge says its name “conveys the idea of being straitened and distressed”. The picture is a lake with no water in it.
Legge starts from the written character. He says it “presents us with the picture of a tree within an enclosure”.
The judgment still leaves room. In Legge's words “there may (yet be) progress and success”, and for the great man who stays firm and correct there is good fortune and no error.
It closes with a warning about talk. Wilhelm has “When one has something to say, It is not believed.” Legge's note asks for actions, “not words”.
The judgment and the image
The judgment
困亨。貞大人吉，无咎。有言不信。
OPPRESSION. Success. Perseverance. The great man brings about good fortune. No blame. When one has something to say, It is not believed.
success things flow and come throughgood fortune it goes wellno blame there is no mistake in it
The image
澤无水，困。君子以致命遂志。
There is no water in the lake: The image of EXHAUSTION. Thus the superior man stakes his life On following his will.
What the commentaries say
The commentary on the judgment looks at the lines. It sees “the strong (lines) covered and obscured (by the weak)”. It also says that the good fortune of the great man “is shown by the central positions of the strong (lines)”.
Legge spells this out. The second line is confined between two weak ones, and the fourth and fifth are covered by the weak top line. All of this is held to show “the repression or straitening of good men by bad”.
The same commentary finds two attributes in the figure, “perilousness going on to that of satisfaction”. It asks who but the superior man, “though straitened, still does not fail in making progress to his proper end”.
It also explains the warning about speech. In its words “to be fond of arguing or pleading is the way to be reduced to extremity”.
The image is a marsh drained dry. The commentary draws a rule from it. The superior man “will sacrifice his life in order to carry out his purpose”. Wilhelm says that he “stakes his life On following his will”.
Legge is exact about where the pressure falls. He reads the three whole lines as superior men, and their being straitened is “not in their persons or estates, but in their principles which are denied development”. The editors he quotes say that the subjects of the three broken lines are “all unable to deal aright with the straitened state indicated by the figure”.
The six lines
First line
臀困于株木，入于幽谷，三歲不覿。
One sits oppressed under a bare tree And strays into a gloomy valley. For three years one sees nothing.
no verdict
The lowest line is straitened under the stump of a tree and enters a dark valley. The commentary reads the valley as blindness, “so benighted is he, and without clear vision”. Legge adds that the stump “affords him no shelter” and that the three years of the text stand “for a long time”.
Legge also explains the bad sign by the place of the line. It is “at the bottom of the trigram indicating peril”, and the fourth line, its proper correlate, is not able to help it.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 58, The Joyous
Second line
困于酒食，朱紱方來。利用享祀。征凶无咎。
One is oppressed while at meat and drink. The man with the scarlet knee bands is just coming. It furthers one to offer sacrifice. To set forth brings misfortune. No blame.
it furthers it is favorablemisfortune it goes badlyno blame there is no mistake in it
This is a strong line straitened in the midst of plenty. Help comes from the ruler, known by his red knee-covers. The text advises sincerity as in sacrificing and warns that “Active operations (on his part) will lead to evil, but he will be free from blame”. Legge sums it up as “if he keep quiet, all will be well”.
The commentary is hopeful about this line. It says “his position is central, and there will be ground for congratulation”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 45, Gathering Together
Third line
困于石，據于蒺蔾，入于其宮，不見其妻，凶。
A man permits himself to be oppressed by stone, And leans on thorns and thistles. He enters his house and does not see his wife. Misfortune.
misfortune it goes badly
The third line is the other line whose text names evil. The editors Legge quotes describe a person who “advances and is distressed”, then goes home and “finds none to receive him”. They call it “the distress which reckless action brings”. The commentary ties the thorns to the line's place “above the strong (line)”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 28, Great Exceeding
Fourth line
來徐徐，困于金車，吝，有終。
He comes very quietly, oppressed in a golden carriage. Humiliation, but the end is reached.
humiliation it leads to embarrassment
The fourth line means to help the first, but slowly. Legge notes that “its assistance is given dilatorily”. The text admits “occasion for regret, but the end will be good”, and the commentary says the two “will (in the end) be together”. Legge reports the usual account of this line and finds that it is explained “not very satisfactorily”.
In that account the carriage is the second line. Legge writes that the first line is overridden by the second, which is represented by “a chariot of metal”. The fourth is a strong line in an even place, and the commentary says it is “not in his appropriate place”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 29, The Abysmal
Fifth line
劓刖，困于赤紱，乃徐有說，利用祭祀。
His nose and feet are cut off. Oppression at the hands of the man with the purple knee bands. Joy comes softly. It furthers one to make offerings and libations.
it furthers it is favorable
The line in the ruler's place is hurt from both sides. Legge writes “Above and below its subject is wounded”, repressed by the top line and pressed on by the minister in the fourth. The commentary says “his aim has not yet been gained”. Yet he is leisurely in his movements, and Wilhelm has “Joy comes softly.” The text advises the sincerity of one who sacrifices.
Legge reports where the satisfaction is said to come from. The upper trigram has “the quality of complacent satisfaction”, and this is taken to show that the subject of the line gets on “notwithstanding his straits, especially by his sincerity”. Legge is not convinced. He writes “This explanation is not more satisfactory than the last.”
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 40, Deliverance
Sixth line
困于葛藟，于臲卼，曰動悔有悔，征吉。
He is oppressed by creeping vines. He moves uncertainly and says, “Movement brings remorse.” If one feels remorse over this and makes a start, Good fortune comes.
remorse there is something to regretthere is remorse there is something to regretgood fortune it goes well
The top line is where the distress “may be supposed to reach its height”. It is also the one line with good fortune. Legge puts it in a sentence, “his extremity is also his opportunity”. The person tells himself that any move brings regret, and the text answers that if he repents of former errors there is “good fortune in his going forward”.
The commentary is short about the creepers. It says “(his spirit and action) are unsuitable”. Legge adds that the person “is moved to think of repenting”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 6, Conflict
Hexagram 47 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 47 unchanging, what remains is the judgment, which still allows success for the one who stays firm and warns that speech is not believed, and the image of the lake without water, which asks a person to hold to their purpose.
Questions people ask
What does hexagram 47 mean?
It describes a time of being straitened, pictured as a lake with no water. The judgment still allows “progress and success” for the one who stays firm, and it warns that words are not believed.
What does hexagram 47 unchanging mean?
With no moving lines you read only the judgment and the image. For hexagram 47 that is good fortune for the one who stays firm in a straitened time, little use for speeches, and a purpose held to even when the lake is dry.
What does hexagram 47 changing to 6 mean?
It is hexagram 47 with its top line moving. That line shows a person “straitened, as if bound with creepers”, with good fortune in going forward once he repents of former errors, and when it changes the hexagram becomes number 6.
What does hexagram 47 changing to 40 mean?
It is hexagram 47 with its fifth line moving. That line shows the one in the ruler's place wounded and straitened, of whom the commentary says “his aim has not yet been gained”, and when it changes the hexagram becomes number 40.
Which trigrams form hexagram 47?
Kan, Water, is below and Dui, Lake, is above. Legge's version of the image reads them as a marsh over a defile that has drained it, so that there is “no water in it”.
Richard Wilhelm, translated by Cary F. Baynes. Khwăn in James Legge. Oppression in Wilhelm and Baynes.
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