Hexagram 29 as yes or no
Hexagram 29 The Pit (Water) as a yes-or-no answer
Kan answers a yes-or-no question with 'not yet, and not by force'. The judgment holds out 'action has value' (行有尚), so this is not a flat no; but the action it values is patient, water filling each hollow before moving on. Whatever you are asking about sits inside a stretch of repeated difficulty, and the real question is whether your motive is sincere and your pace is modest. If both are true, the step can be taken a little at a time.
The changing line is decisive, because the ends and the middle disagree. Line one says no: you would be going deeper in. Line two says yes to small steps only. Line three says no most strongly — pits before and behind, do not act. Line four says yes to a sincere, simple approach to the person who matters. Line five says what you have is level and enough; do not push past it. The top line says the matter is bound for a long time and the honest answer is to stop asking and wait it out.
The hexagram in brief
Water upon water: repeated danger. With sincerity the heart gets through — flow like water, filling each hollow and moving on without losing your nature.
Don't panic and don't climb out too fast; keep inner honesty, practise with the difficulty, and keep moving.
The judgment
習坎，有孚，維心亨，行有尚。Khan, here repeated, shows the possession of sincerity, through which the mind is penetrating. Action (in accordance with this) will be of high value.
Which line changed?
A changing line sharpens the answer. Each line of 坎 The Pit (Water) has its own page:
- 初六Six at the beginningpit within the pit · lost the way · sinking deeper
- 九二Nine in the second placesmall gains · still inside · strong at the centre
- 六三Six in the third placepits before and behind · unrest · do not act
- 六四Six in the fourth placeplain offering · through the window · sincerity reaches
- 九五Nine in the fifth placewater not overflowing · level reached · not yet great
- 上六Six at the topbound with cords · thorn thicket · three years
The same hexagram for
Questions
- Does hexagram 29, The Pit (Water), mean yes or no?
- Kan answers a yes-or-no question with 'not yet, and not by force'. The judgment holds out 'action has value' (行有尚), so this is not a flat no; but the action it values is patient, water filling each hollow before moving on. Whatever you are asking about sits inside a stretch of repeated difficulty, and the real question is whether your motive is sincere and your pace is modest. If both are true, the step can be taken a little at a time.
- What does Hexagram 29, 坎 The Pit (Water), mean?
- Water upon water: repeated danger. With sincerity the heart gets through — flow like water, filling each hollow and moving on without losing your nature.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi (Wuyingdian lineage). English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East XVI, 1882 (public domain).