Hexagram 29, line 1
初六Line 1 of The Pit (Water)
Six at the beginning · 坎 kǎn
爻辭 The line text
習坎，入于坎窞，凶。The first line, divided, shows its subject in the double defile, and (yet) entering a cavern within it. There will be evil.
習坎入坎，失道凶也。'In the double defile, he enters a cavern within it:'—he has missed his (proper) way, and there will be evil.
In plain words
'Repeated danger: entering the hollow inside the pit — misfortune.' The hexagram is one chasm stacked on another, and the first line is at the very bottom of the lower one. It is yin, weak, in a yang place, with no proper correspondent (line four is yin too), and it has no strength of its own to climb with. Instead of waiting, it goes further in — 坎窞 is the deeper hole inside the hole. The small Image gives the cause: 'it has lost the way' (失道凶也). This is danger made worse by the wrong first reaction, and it stands at the beginning of the hexagram as the warning against it.
If this line is changing
Your first instinct in this difficulty is making it worse; do nothing that takes you further in, and get your bearings before you move at all.
Where the line stands
- A broken line, yin — written 六 (six), the number of an old yin line that moves when cast.
- It is not in its correct place (不當位): a yang line in an even position or a yin line in an odd one, which the tradition reads as a line under some strain — often the reason a text sounds a warning.
- It belongs to the lower trigram 坎 Kan (the Abysmal) (water).
- It has no correspondence (無應) with line 4: both lines are yin, so this line must find its support in its neighbours or in itself.
之卦 When this line moves
坎 The Pit (Water) becomes ䷻ 60 節 Measure
Water above the lake: the lake holds just so much. Success through limits — but bitter, excessive limitation cannot be sustained; measure that fits is the point.
What it becomes60 · 節 MeasurejiéThe six lines of 坎 The Pit (Water)
- 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
Read 坎 The Pit (Water) for a question about
Questions about this line
- What does Six at the beginning of hexagram 29, The Pit (Water), mean?
- 'Repeated danger: entering the hollow inside the pit — misfortune.' The hexagram is one chasm stacked on another, and the first line is at the very bottom of the lower one. It is yin, weak, in a yang place, with no proper correspondent (line four is yin too), and it has no strength of its own to climb with. Instead of waiting, it goes further in — 坎窞 is the deeper hole inside the hole. The small Image gives the cause: 'it has lost the way' (失道凶也). This is danger made worse by the wrong first reaction, and it stands at the beginning of the hexagram as the warning against it.
- What does hexagram 29 become when line 1 changes?
- The Pit (Water) becomes hexagram 60, 節 Measure: Water above the lake: the lake holds just so much. Success through limits — but bitter, excessive limitation cannot be sustained; measure that fits is the point.
- Is line 1 of The Pit (Water) in its correct place?
- It is not in its correct place (不當位): a yang line in an even position or a yin line in an odd one, which the tradition reads as a line under some strain — often the reason a text sounds a warning.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi (Wuyingdian lineage). English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East XVI, 1882 (public domain).