Is line 2 of Impasse 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. It is central (中): the middle line of its trigram, the position the commentaries read as balanced and most favourable.

Hexagram 39, line 2

六二Line 2 of Impasse

Six in the second place · 蹇 jiǎn

the king's ministerdifficulty upon difficultynot for oneself

爻辭 The line text

王臣蹇蹇，匪躬之故。

The second line, divided, shows the minister of the king struggling with difficulty on difficulty, and not with a view to his own advantage.

Its symbolism

王臣蹇蹇，終无尤也。

'The minister of the king struggles with difficulty on difficulty:'—in the end no blame will be attached to him.

In plain words

The king's minister struggles through obstruction after obstruction, and not for his own sake. Line two is the one line in Jian that is told neither to go nor to come: yin, central and correct, it corresponds to the ruler at five, who sits in the middle of the danger, and its duty is to go to him. 蹇蹇, the doubled word, is hardship piled on hardship. The text gives no verdict of good fortune, only the reason — 匪躬之故, it is not on his own account — and the small Image supplies the consequence: 'in the end, no blame' (終無尤). This is the loyal line, and loyalty here means walking into the difficulty with open eyes.

If this line is changing

If the hardship you face is on someone else's behalf, carry it; you will not be spared the difficulty, but you will be spared reproach, and that is this line's whole promise.

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 is central (中): the middle line of its trigram, the position the commentaries read as balanced and most favourable.
It belongs to the lower trigram 艮 Gen (Keeping Still) (mountain).
It corresponds (應) with line 5: one yin and one yang, the two lines answer each other across the hexagram.

之卦 When this line moves

蹇 Impasse becomes ䷯ 48 井 Well

Water drawn up through wood: the well. Towns move, the well stays; it neither increases nor decreases — but a broken rope or a muddy well helps no one.

What it becomes48 · 井 Welljǐng

The six lines of 蹇 Impasse

Read 蹇 Impasse for a question about

Love and relationships Work and career A yes-or-no decision

Questions about this line

What does Six in the second place of hexagram 39, Impasse, mean?: The king's minister struggles through obstruction after obstruction, and not for his own sake. Line two is the one line in Jian that is told neither to go nor to come: yin, central and correct, it corresponds to the ruler at five, who sits in the middle of the danger, and its duty is to go to him. 蹇蹇, the doubled word, is hardship piled on hardship. The text gives no verdict of good fortune, only the reason — 匪躬之故, it is not on his own account — and the small Image supplies the consequence: 'in the end, no blame' (終無尤). This is the loyal line, and loyalty here means walking into the difficulty with open eyes.
What does hexagram 39 become when line 2 changes?: Impasse becomes hexagram 48, 井 Well: Water drawn up through wood: the well. Towns move, the well stays; it neither increases nor decreases — but a broken rope or a muddy well helps no one.
Is line 2 of Impasse 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. It is central (中): the middle line of its trigram, the position the commentaries read as balanced and most favourable.

Cast a reading Hexagram 39 in full Changing lines explained

Chinese text: the received Zhouyi (Wuyingdian lineage). English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East XVI, 1882 (public domain).