Hexagram 47 of 64
Exhaustion
困 Kùn
Upper trigram: 兌 Duì, lake
Lower trigram: 坎 Kǎn, water
The judgment
亨，貞大人吉，无咎，有言不信。
Success. For a great person, holding firm brings good fortune. No blame. Words are spoken and are not believed.
The Great Image
澤无水，困；君子以致命遂志。
The lake has no water: Exhaustion. In the same way, the noble person gives life itself to fulfill a purpose.
The six lines
Lines are counted from the bottom. Read a line closely when it changes in your cast.
Line 1 初六
臀困于株木，入于幽谷，三歲不覿。
The buttocks are trapped on a tree stump. Entering a dark valley. For three years no one is seen.
Seated on a stump, then down into a dark valley for three years: this is being stuck with no company. Ask who you could let know where you are.
Line 2 九二
困于酒食，朱紱方來，利用亨祀，征凶，无咎。
Trapped in wine and food. Vermilion sashes are just arriving. It is fitting to use this for offering and sacrifice. Setting out brings misfortune. No blame.
Being stuck among wine and food is a strange kind of difficulty, with honors arriving at the same moment. If comfort has become the thing holding you in place, ask what you would do if it were gone.
Line 3 六三
困于石，據于蒺蔾，入于其宮，不見其妻，凶。
Trapped by stone and leaning on thorns. Entering his house, he does not see his wife. Misfortune.
Stone ahead, thorns to lean on and an empty room at home. If you have been pressing on against something hard, consider who at home you have lost sight of meanwhile.
Line 4 九四
來荼荼，困于金轝，吝，有終。
Coming very slowly. Trapped in a bronze carriage. Shame, yet there is an end.
The bronze carriage is impressive and it is also what holds you up. Ask whether a status or a position has slowed you down, and what it would take to reach the end of this stretch.
Line 5 九五
劓刖，困于赤紱，乃徐有說，利用祭祀。
Nose cut, feet cut. Trapped by the red sash. Then slowly there is relief. It is fitting to use this for sacrifices.
The old punishments of nose and foot appear here beside the red sash of rank, recorded as facts of their age. You could ask how harsh a ruling you have been handing out to yourself or others, and notice that relief in this line arrives slowly.
Line 6 上六
困于葛藟，于臲卼，曰動悔。有悔，征吉。
Trapped in creepers, on shaky ground. It is said: moving brings regret. There is regret. Setting out brings good fortune.
Creepers, shaky ground and a voice saying any move will be regretted. Consider whether fear of regret is the last thing keeping you where you are.
What this hexagram says
Water below, lake above: the water has drained out of the lake through the bottom. It stands for being hemmed in and worn down, when effort gets no result and no one is listening.
The judgment joins success to hardship and then adds that words are not believed. In such a time talking may achieve less than conduct. Ask what you could keep doing even if no one takes your explanation at face value.
If your question is about a stuck job, a hard obligation or a long dispute, tradition reads this as a time to hold to your purpose and spend fewer words. Each line names a different trap, among them comfort, rank and fear. The last line suggests that being afraid to move can become a trap of its own.
A hexagram is a prompt for reflection. It cannot promise a result, and it is no substitute for medical, legal or financial advice.
Where this text comes from
The Chinese follows the Wikisource text of the Zhou Yi (its page for this hexagram, 周易/困), compared with the Project Gutenberg edition. The Great Image comes from the Wikisource page 周易/大象.
- Wikisource, 周易
Retrieved 2026-11-08
- Project Gutenberg eBook 25501, 易經
Retrieved 2026-11-08
Read this hexagram with its traditional commentaries in our library.
Where the sources differ
- In the third line, Wikisource (A) reads 蒺蔾 and notes the alternative 藜, and Project Gutenberg (B) reads 蒺藜. Both are spellings of the same thorny plant.
- In the fourth line, Wikisource (A) reads 來荼荼 and notes that another text has 徐徐. Project Gutenberg (B) reads 來徐徐 (coming slowly). The English follows the slow sense.
- In the fourth line, Wikisource (A) reads 金轝 and notes that another text has 車. Project Gutenberg (B) reads 金車. Both name a metal-fitted carriage.
The English renderings and the advice are by Cast & Chart. The advice is a modern reading and is not part of the classical text.