Hexagram 29, line 6
上六Line 6 of The Pit (Water)
Six at the top · 坎 kǎn
爻辭 The line text
係用徽纆，寘于叢棘，三歲不得，凶。The topmost line, divided, shows its subject bound with cords of three strands or two strands, and placed in the thicket of thorns. But in three years he does not learn the course for him to pursue. There will be evil.
上六失道，凶三歲也。'The sixth line, divided, shows its subject missing his (proper) course:'—'there will be evil for three years.'
In plain words
'Bound with cords of three strands and two, placed in a thicket of thorns; for three years nothing is gained: misfortune.' The top line is yin at the summit of the upper Kan, the place where danger reaches its extreme and the weak line has no strength to escape it. The image is of confinement: tied up, hedged with thorns, and left there — the ancient picture of a prisoner. The small Image gives the same cause as the first line, 'it has lost the way' (上六失道), and attaches a long term to it: three years of misfortune. The hexagram that began by sinking into the pit ends by being held in it; the two weak ends of Kan are the lines that cannot find the path.
If this line is changing
You are hemmed in by the consequences of a course that went wrong, and struggling tightens the cords; accept that this will take a long time to work through, and stop compounding it.
Where the line stands
- A broken line, yin — written 六 (six), the number of an old yin line that moves when cast.
- It is in its correct place (當位): a yang line in an odd position or a yin line in an even one, which the tradition reads as a line at ease where it stands.
- It belongs to the upper trigram 坎 Kan (the Abysmal) (water).
- It has no correspondence (無應) with line 3: 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 ䷺ 59 渙 Dispersing
Wind over water: dispersing. Success; the king approaches the temple; favourable to cross the great river — scattering rigidity, selfishness and division so that people regroup around something shared.
What it becomes59 · 渙 DispersinghuànThe 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 top of hexagram 29, The Pit (Water), mean?
- 'Bound with cords of three strands and two, placed in a thicket of thorns; for three years nothing is gained: misfortune.' The top line is yin at the summit of the upper Kan, the place where danger reaches its extreme and the weak line has no strength to escape it. The image is of confinement: tied up, hedged with thorns, and left there — the ancient picture of a prisoner. The small Image gives the same cause as the first line, 'it has lost the way' (上六失道), and attaches a long term to it: three years of misfortune. The hexagram that began by sinking into the pit ends by being held in it; the two weak ends of Kan are the lines that cannot find the path.
- What does hexagram 29 become when line 6 changes?
- The Pit (Water) becomes hexagram 59, 渙 Dispersing: Wind over water: dispersing. Success; the king approaches the temple; favourable to cross the great river — scattering rigidity, selfishness and division so that people regroup around something shared.
- Is line 6 of The Pit (Water) in its correct place?
- It is in its correct place (當位): a yang line in an odd position or a yin line in an even one, which the tradition reads as a line at ease where it stands.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi (Wuyingdian lineage). English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East XVI, 1882 (public domain).