Is line 5 of Well 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 48, line 5

九五Line 5 of Well

Nine in the fifth place · 井 jǐng

clear wellcold springfreely drunk

爻辭 The line text

井冽，寒泉食。

The fifth line, undivided, shows a clear, limpid well, (the waters from) whose cold spring are (freely) drunk.

Its symbolism

寒泉之食，中正也。

'The waters from the cold spring are (freely) drunk:'—this is indicated by the central and correct position (of the line).

In plain words

The ruler of Jing: 'the well is clear; the cold spring is drunk' (井冽，寒泉食). Yang in the central, correct place of Kan, water itself, this is the well at its best — cold, pure, rising from a live source, and used. Everything the lower lines lacked is present: the silt is gone, the leak is sealed, the walls are lined, and there is a ruler to draw the water. The small Image attributes it to central correctness (中正也): the spring is good because the one at the centre is. Yet the text stops short of 'good fortune', and commentators note why — a well's merit is in being used, and the completion of the hexagram belongs to the top line, the open mouth.

If this line is changing

What you have to give is at its clearest and purest now; make sure it is actually being drawn and drunk, because a fine spring that no one reaches is still only a well.

Where the line stands

A solid line, yang — written 九 (nine), the number of an old yang 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 upper trigram 坎 Kan (the Abysmal) (water).
It has no correspondence (無應) with line 2: both lines are yang, so this line must find its support in its neighbours or in itself.

之卦 When this line moves

井 Well becomes ䷭ 46 升 Ascending

Wood growing within the earth: ascending. Supreme success; see the great man; a march to the south brings good fortune — growth by steady, unforced effort.

What it becomes46 · 升 Ascendingshēng

The six lines of 井 Well

Read 井 Well for a question about

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

Questions about this line

What does Nine in the fifth place of hexagram 48, Well, mean?: The ruler of Jing: 'the well is clear; the cold spring is drunk' (井冽，寒泉食). Yang in the central, correct place of Kan, water itself, this is the well at its best — cold, pure, rising from a live source, and used. Everything the lower lines lacked is present: the silt is gone, the leak is sealed, the walls are lined, and there is a ruler to draw the water. The small Image attributes it to central correctness (中正也): the spring is good because the one at the centre is. Yet the text stops short of 'good fortune', and commentators note why — a well's merit is in being used, and the completion of the hexagram belongs to the top line, the open mouth.
What does hexagram 48 become when line 5 changes?: Well becomes hexagram 46, 升 Ascending: Wood growing within the earth: ascending. Supreme success; see the great man; a march to the south brings good fortune — growth by steady, unforced effort.
Is line 5 of Well 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 48 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).