No. 47 Oppression
泽水困 · Kùn · Water under Lake
“The water has drained out of the lake. Keep your words few and your conduct steady.”
Lower trigram ☵ Water 坎 — depth & steady flow
Upper trigram ☱ Lake 兑 — open exchange & shared ease
Trigram: a three-line symbolic figure that forms one half of an I Ching hexagram.
- Exhaustion
- Weariness
- Words unused
- Inner steadiness
- Waiting it out
Introduction
Below the lake there is water, yet the lake itself is empty. Oppression pictures resources spent and room closed down.
In practice, this names a stretch of real constraint. Cheerfulness is not required; steadiness is.
The judgement
“Oppression. Success. Perseverance. The great man brings good. No blame. When one has something to say, it is not believed.”
In plain words: the constraint is survivable, persistence is what carries it, and meeting an able person helps.
Read it as a note about credibility. Words carry little weight here, so conduct tends to do the talking.
Core themes
- Words count for little here. Conduct counts for more.
- Steadiness through exhaustion tends to be the whole task.
- The constraint is real, and it is also temporary.
Line-by-line overview
Six lines, read bottom to top — matching the figure above.
Each line describes one stage in an evolving situation. Line 1 marks the earliest, foundational beginning; line 6 shows where the pattern has run its course. Open a line to read it.
Line 1 初六
You are stuck in a bare spot with no shade.
The old line tells of a dark valley and of seeing nothing for years.
Tiredness this deep is often remembered badly later.
Line 2 九二
Here the surroundings are comfortable while the person is not.
The old line says offering is called for, and that setting out brings difficulty.
Constraint that looks like comfort from outside tends to be harder to explain.
Line 3 六三
At this level support is sought in the wrong places.
The old line describes leaning on thorns and returning home without seeing a wife.
Grabbing the nearest prop tends to add injuries rather than prevent them.
Line 4 九四
Here help moves slowly, and the old line admits the wait is humbling.
The ending is still reached.
Slow assistance tends to arrive later than pride would prefer and sooner than despair expects.
Line 5 九五
At the centre the constraint has become painful and personal.
The old line says relief arrives quietly, and recommends offerings.
Patience during humiliation tends to be what gets people through it.
Line 6 上六
At the top you are tangled rather than crushed.
The old line says moving is what brings regret to an end.
Cutting one strand at a time tends to work when nothing can be cut at once.
Summary
Read as a whole, this figure asks you to economise. Save words, keep conduct steady, accept slow help, and cut loose one strand at a time.
Temporary reading — this reading only exists for your current browser session. If you refresh, close this tab or navigate away, your interpretation will be lost permanently.
Hexagram 47 · Oppression 困
A way to look at what is moving around you now, not a fixed answer. Notice your inner state, then decide how to act.
Exhaustion outside the relationship tends to enter it sooner than expected.
Tired people tend to interpret neutral remarks as criticism.
Couples under strain often try to solve it with more talking. More talking tends to add words to a problem made of fatigue.
Rest first, talk later.
Ultimately, your real-world facts and personal choices will shape how things unfold.
This hexagram contains 1 changing line. You may read detailed line interpretations inside the full hexagram-knowledge page. If you want to deepen your understanding of changing lines and line positions, please visit our I-Ching six-line learning page.
Read the full guide →- Tell your partner you are worn out, not unhappy with them. Saying "worn out" tends to be easier to hold than going quiet.
- Notice how much of your temper belongs to poor sleep. Most arguments look pointless after a rest.
Related reading
Short reads from the blog. A changing line is a line that may shift as a situation moves.
Working with changing lines
Learn about changing lines and how to interpret them
Expectation & inner honesty
Set proper expectations before your reflection reading
Using the I Ching for self-reflection
Turn the reading into something you do.
Related hexagrams
The Well · 井
Read it the other way up
No. 46Pushing Upward · 升
The hexagram before this one
No. 45Gathering Together · 萃
The hexagram before this one
If you would like to browse all 64 hexagrams, visit All 64 Hexagrams.
If you would like to learn about static hexagrams and the interpretation rules for changing lines within I-Ching, please visit our general guide: Understanding Changing & Static Lines.