Yi Jing · Chinese tarot
Exhaustion
Hexagram 47 of the Yi Jing · 困 Kùn
The figure
The Lake above Water: the lake whose water has drained downward, run dry. The image of exhaustion, of the constraint that tests.
What this figure illuminates
Oppression lights up periods of lack and limit, when means run short. It is a trial that reveals what truly holds: what remains when comfort withdraws.
For a decision, the figure invites you to draw from within when the outside closes: “deprived of my usual supports, on what deeper thing can I still lean?”.
The classical text
The Judgment
Exhaustion, and still a way through. For the great person, firm and upright, good fortune — though whatever they say now will not be believed. Deeds, not words.
The Image
The lake drained dry, its water sunk away below. Seeing this, the noble person will stake their life to fulfill their purpose.
The Six Lines
- First line
Sunk down against a bare stump, sinking into a dark valley — for three years no way out. Do not sink further into gloom.
- Second line
Weighed down even amid plenty of food and wine. Honor is on its way to you — devote yourself, and though action still meets hardship, there is no blame.
- Third line
Blocked by a rock, grasping only thorns; you return home and your own is not there. Misfortune — you strain against what will not yield and lose what you had.
- Fourth line
Coming slowly to help, held up by a heavy, gilded obstacle. There is regret, but you reach your aim in the end.
- Fifth line
Cut at from above and below, hemmed in even by those who should serve. Relief comes slowly — turn to what is sacred, and joy will follow.
- Sixth line
Bound in creepers on a precarious height, telling yourself every move will bring regret. But regret the paralysis itself, act, and good fortune comes.
Daoa's wording, written after the classical reference translations, now in the public domain: James Legge (1882) and Charles de Harlez (1889).
A question to keep
Deprived of your usual supports, on what deeper thing do you lean?
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