Hexagram 47, line 1
初六Line 1 of Confinement
Six at the beginning · 困 kùn
爻辭 The line text
臀困于株木，入于幽谷，三歲不覿。The first line, divided, shows its subject with bare buttocks straitened under the stump of a tree. He enters a dark valley, and for three years has no prospect (of deliverance).
入于幽谷，幽不明也。'He enters a dark valley:'—so benighted is he, and without clear vision.
In plain words
The first line is 'confined, sitting on a bare stump; enters a dark valley; for three years sees no one' (臀困於株木，入於幽谷，三歲不覿). Yin in a yang place at the bottom of Kan, the pit, it is the weakest line in the lowest, darkest position, and the stump it rests on gives neither shade nor support. It has a correlate in the strong fourth line, but that line 'comes slowly'. The small Image puts the trouble inside the person: the valley is dark because the line itself is dim and without clear sight (幽不明也). This is confinement that deepens through one's own loss of bearings — the beginning of a long stretch.
If this line is changing
Admit that you cannot see clearly right now and stop walking deeper; the help that is coming is slow, and the one thing you can do in the meantime is keep from losing your bearings further.
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 corresponds (應) with line 4: one yin and one yang, the two lines answer each other across the hexagram.
之卦 When this line moves
困 Confinement becomes ䷹ 58 兌 Pleasure (Lake)
Lake upon lake: joy. Success through correctness — inner firmness, outer gentleness; friends discussing and practising together, a joy that makes people forget their toil.
What it becomes58 · 兌 Pleasure (Lake)duìThe six lines of 困 Confinement
- 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
Read 困 Confinement for a question about
Questions about this line
- What does Six at the beginning of hexagram 47, Confinement, mean?
- The first line is 'confined, sitting on a bare stump; enters a dark valley; for three years sees no one' (臀困於株木，入於幽谷，三歲不覿). Yin in a yang place at the bottom of Kan, the pit, it is the weakest line in the lowest, darkest position, and the stump it rests on gives neither shade nor support. It has a correlate in the strong fourth line, but that line 'comes slowly'. The small Image puts the trouble inside the person: the valley is dark because the line itself is dim and without clear sight (幽不明也). This is confinement that deepens through one's own loss of bearings — the beginning of a long stretch.
- What does hexagram 47 become when line 1 changes?
- Confinement becomes hexagram 58, 兌 Pleasure (Lake): Lake upon lake: joy. Success through correctness — inner firmness, outer gentleness; friends discussing and practising together, a joy that makes people forget their toil.
- Is line 1 of Confinement 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).