Hexagram 48, line 1
初六Line 1 of Well
Six at the beginning · 井 jǐng
爻辭 The line text
井泥不食，舊井无禽。The first line, divided, shows a well so muddy that men will not drink of it; or an old well to which neither birds (nor other creatures) resort.
井泥不食，下也。舊井无禽，時舍也。'A well so muddy that men will not drink of it:'—this is indicated by the low position (of the line). 'An old well to which the birds do not come:'—it has been forsaken in the course of time.
In plain words
The first line is 'a muddy well, no one drinks; an old well, no birds come' (井泥不食，舊井無禽). The six lines of Jing climb the well from the silt at the bottom to the open mouth at the top, and this is the bottom: yin in a yang place at the base of Xun, where the water has gone stagnant. Not even animals visit. The small Image gives two causes — the mud is a matter of low position (下也), and the desertion is a matter of time having moved on (時舍也). Nothing here is condemned; a well that has silted up is simply unusable until someone clears it, and this line is the state before the work begins.
If this line is changing
What you are drawing on has silted up and no one is coming to it any more; do not take that personally, but do not pretend it is still drinkable — it needs clearing before it can serve anyone.
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 巽 Xun (the Gentle) (wind).
- 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
井 Well becomes ䷄ 5 需 Attending
Clouds rising to heaven: rain that will come in its time. Confident waiting — not idle, but nourishing yourself until the crossing is safe.
What it becomes5 · 需 AttendingxūThe six lines of 井 Well
- 初六Six at the beginningmuddy well · no one drinks · abandoned by time
- 九二Nine in the second placewater leaking to the minnows · a cracked jar · no one above to help
- 九三Nine in the third placecleared but not drunk · a grief · if the king were clear-sighted
- 六四Six in the fourth placelining the well · repair · no blame
- 九五Nine in the fifth placeclear well · cold spring · freely drunk
- 上六Six at the topdrawn to the top · do not cover it · sincerity, great fortune
Read 井 Well for a question about
Questions about this line
- What does Six at the beginning of hexagram 48, Well, mean?
- The first line is 'a muddy well, no one drinks; an old well, no birds come' (井泥不食，舊井無禽). The six lines of Jing climb the well from the silt at the bottom to the open mouth at the top, and this is the bottom: yin in a yang place at the base of Xun, where the water has gone stagnant. Not even animals visit. The small Image gives two causes — the mud is a matter of low position (下也), and the desertion is a matter of time having moved on (時舍也). Nothing here is condemned; a well that has silted up is simply unusable until someone clears it, and this line is the state before the work begins.
- What does hexagram 48 become when line 1 changes?
- Well becomes hexagram 5, 需 Attending: Clouds rising to heaven: rain that will come in its time. Confident waiting — not idle, but nourishing yourself until the crossing is safe.
- Is line 1 of Well 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).