Hexagram 48 for love
Hexagram 48 Well in love and relationships
Jing is water above wood: the bucket on its windlass, drawing from a source that neither increases nor decreases. The judgment's first sentence is the heart of it — 'the town may be moved, the well is not' (改邑不改井). In a relationship this is what stays constant beneath changing circumstance: the trust two people keep drawing on, still there after a move, a loss, a quarrel. The Tuan says a well nourishes without being exhausted (井養而不窮); the judgment's warning is about the last moment — the rope that almost reaches and the jar that breaks.
For a question about love, the hexagram asks about the condition of the well between you. Line one is a source silted up and no longer visited; line two is care leaking into small things because the other does not draw on it; line three is readiness grieving at being unused. Line five is the clear spring; the top line is the well left open with sincerity. A changing line in the lower trigram concerns the source and its upkeep; one in the upper trigram concerns whether it is being drawn from.
The hexagram in brief
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.
Tend your sources — skills, relationships, inner life — so they stay clear and usable for yourself and others.
The judgment
井：改邑不改井，无喪无得，往來井井。汔至，亦未繘井，羸其瓶，凶。(Looking at) Žing, (we think of) how (the site of) a town may be changed, while (the fashion of) its wells undergoes no change. (The water of a well) never disappears and never receives (any great) increase, and those who come and those who go can draw and enjoy the benefit. If (the drawing) have nearly been accomplished, but, before the rope has quite reached the water, the bucket is broken, this is evil.
Which line changed?
A changing line sharpens the answer. Each line of 井 Well has its own page:
- 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
The same hexagram for
Questions
- Is hexagram 48, Well, a good sign for love?
- Jing is water above wood: the bucket on its windlass, drawing from a source that neither increases nor decreases. The judgment's first sentence is the heart of it — 'the town may be moved, the well is not' (改邑不改井). In a relationship this is what stays constant beneath changing circumstance: the trust two people keep drawing on, still there after a move, a loss, a quarrel. The Tuan says a well nourishes without being exhausted (井養而不窮); the judgment's warning is about the last moment — the rope that almost reaches and the jar that breaks.
- What does Hexagram 48, 井 Well, mean?
- 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.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi (Wuyingdian lineage). English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East XVI, 1882 (public domain).