I Ching Oracle / Hexagrams / 29
The Judgement
If you are sincere, you have success in your heart, and whatever you do succeeds.
Danger upon danger; only sincerity and steadiness carry you through.
The Image
Water flows on uninterruptedly and reaches its goal; the noble one walks in lasting virtue and carries on the business of teaching.
This hexagram on ten matters
- WorkCAREER
- Danger upon danger; a pit within a pit. Success is in the heart — only sincerity and steadiness carry you now. Technique will not.
- LoveRELATIONSHIP
- A hard stretch. A jug of wine, a bowl of rice, handed in through the window: keep it simple and genuine. Elaborate remedies get in the way.
- MoneyFINANCE
- Do not seek gain through risk. Strive to attain small things only — take the small and certain; do not try to reverse everything at once.
- HealthBODY
- The health image here demands the most caution in the book. Falling into the pit repeatedly is the real danger: the same harmful pattern, repeated. Please seek professional help.
- StudyLEARNING
- The hard part is right in front of you, and it goes one step at a time. Lasting virtue and the business of teaching — daily basics are what carry you.
- An examEXAM
- Kan is danger. Expect traps, especially in the questions that look easy. Repetition of the abyss: the same trap types recur — list the traps from your wrong answers on one page.
- PeopleSOCIAL
- You are isolated. Whoever reaches out now is worth a great deal; answer them.
- A choiceDECISION
- Do not decide here. Decisions made inside danger aim at escape, not at what is best.
- TravelJOURNEY
- Do not travel far. The danger in this hexagram is explicit.
- A lost itemLOST ITEM
- Hard to find. It may have fallen into water or somewhere dark, or be unrecoverable. Report important items quickly.
The Six Lines
Repetition of the Abysmal. In the abyss one falls into a pit. Misfortune.
Repetition of the abyss; one falls into a pit. A pit inside the pit. The misfortune is the repetition: the same pattern walked again.
The abyss is dangerous. One should strive to attain small things only.
The abyss is dangerous; strive to attain small things only. The danger is simply there. Not escape, only a small gain — and that is the realistic answer.
Forward and backward, abyss on abyss. In danger like this, pause at first and wait.
Forward and backward, abyss on abyss. The line says plainly: do not act. No direction is right, so stay where you are.
A jug of wine, a bowl of rice with it; earthen vessels simply handed in through the window. There is certainly no blame in this.
A jug of wine, a bowl of rice, handed in through the window. The warmest line in the hexagram: simple help, and in the end no blame.
The abyss is not filled to overflowing, it is filled only to the rim. No blame.
The abyss is not filled to overflowing, only to the rim. No blame: not completion, but level is enough to pass.
Bound with cords and ropes, shut in between thorn-hedged prison walls. For three years one does not find the way. Misfortune.
Bound with cords, three years without finding the way. The worst line here, and the misfortune is the length of the confinement.
The governing line
Nuclear · Opposite · Reverse
The nuclear hexagram shows the middle stretch of the matter; the opposite is the same situation seen from the reverse position; the reverse is the view from the other party's side.