Hexagram 29, Kǎn (The Abysmal Water): Line 5

坎卦九五 · 坎为水 · 中文版

九五:坎不盈,祗既平,无咎。

The line (Legge)

The fifth NINE, undivided, shows the water of the defile not yet full, (so that it might flow away); but order will (soon) be brought about. There will be no error.

Small Image commentary

'The water in the defile is not full (so as to flow away):' - (the virtue indicated by) the central situation is not yet (sufficiently) great.

象曰:坎不盈,中未大也。

In plain words

The pit is not yet full; once the water is level with the bank, there is no fault. Some read the key word as a small mound, others as "only when". The fifth line is strong and central in the place of honour; the danger is about to subside but is not entirely over. The Small Image says the middle way is not yet fully shining.

Applying it to your situation

If a difficulty is nearly but not quite over, this line suggests patience rather than declaring victory. What last step is still to be finished?

Position

A solid (yang) line in the fifth place, which is a yang (odd) place, so it is in its proper place. It holds the centre of the upper trigram. Its partner is line 2; both are yang, so they do not respond.

If this line moves

With this line moving alone, Kǎn changes into Hexagram 7 Shī (The Army). The Jiaoshi Yilin verse for this change (Chinese): 焦氏易林·坎之师.

The hexagram

Hexagram 29 Kǎn (The Abysmal Water). The Judgment: Kan, here repeated, shows the possession of sincerity, through which the mind is. penetrating. Action (in accordance with this) will be of high value.

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English text: James Legge, The Yi King (Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16, 1882), public domain, as transcribed by the Chinese Text Project. Chinese: the received text. Offered for study and reflection, not as prediction. Plain-English readings and position notes by this site.

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