Hexagram 47 as yes or no
Hexagram 47 Confinement as a yes-or-no answer
As an answer to a yes-or-no question Kun is a 'not now' with a path inside it. The judgment grants success and good fortune only to the steady and the great — which means the thing you are asking about will not be carried by circumstances or by argument, and if it depends on persuading someone, the answer is no: 'words are not believed'. If it depends on your own endurance and sincerity, the answer is yes, slowly.
A changing line in the lower trigram, Kan, says hold still: line one says you cannot see clearly enough to act, line two says wait sincerely and do not set out (徵凶), line three says the thing you are pushing against will not move. A changing line in the upper trigram, Dui, moves toward yes: line four says proceed even though it is slow and awkward, line five says the release is coming gradually through steadiness, and the top line is the clearest yes in the hexagram — repent the hesitation and go (徵吉).
The hexagram in brief
A lake with no water in it: exhaustion. Success is still possible for the great person who stays correct — words are not believed now, so prove yourself by steadiness.
Accept the constraint, conserve, keep your word and your cheerfulness; the way out comes through character, not argument.
The judgment
困：亨，貞，大人吉，无咎，有言不信。In (the condition denoted by) Khwăn there may (yet be) progress and success. For the firm and correct, the (really) great man, there will be good fortune. He will fall into no error. If he make speeches, his words cannot be made good.
Which line changed?
A changing line sharpens the answer. Each line of 困 Confinement has its own page:
- 初六Six at the beginningsitting on a stump · the dark valley · three years unseen
- 九二Nine in the second placeconfined in plenty · the red sash arrives · do not set out
- 六三Six in the third placestuck on rock · grasping thorns · wife not seen
- 九四Nine in the fourth placecoming slowly · the bronze carriage · regret with a good end
- 九五Nine in the fifth placenose and feet cut · confined by the crimson sash · slowly released
- 上六Six at the toptangled in creepers · movement brings regret · repent and go
The same hexagram for
Questions
- Does hexagram 47, Confinement, mean yes or no?
- As an answer to a yes-or-no question Kun is a 'not now' with a path inside it. The judgment grants success and good fortune only to the steady and the great — which means the thing you are asking about will not be carried by circumstances or by argument, and if it depends on persuading someone, the answer is no: 'words are not believed'. If it depends on your own endurance and sincerity, the answer is yes, slowly.
- What does Hexagram 47, 困 Confinement, mean?
- A lake with no water in it: exhaustion. Success is still possible for the great person who stays correct — words are not believed now, so prove yourself by steadiness.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi (Wuyingdian lineage). English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East XVI, 1882 (public domain).