The 64 hexagrams · Hexagram 39

What does I Ching hexagram 39, Hard Going, mean?

The judgment

蹇：利西南，不利東北；利見大人，貞吉。Hard going: the south-west pays, the north-east doesn't. It pays to see a great person. Holding firm brings good fortune.Zhou Yi 周易, 蹇, judgment. Source

The image

山上有水，蹇；君子以反身修德。Water on a mountain. The noble person turns back to themselves and works on their character.Zhou Yi 周易, 蹇, image. Source

The six lines

Read from the bottom up. In a cast, only the lines that move are read, and they turn the hexagram into another one. Here they are in the original; a reading translates the moving lines and reads them for the question asked.

1. First line初六：往蹇，來譽。
2. Second line六二：王臣蹇蹇，匪躬之故。
3. Third line九三：往蹇來反。
4. Fourth line六四：往蹇來連。
5. Fifth line九五：大蹇朋來。
6. Top line上六：往蹇來碩，吉；利見大人。

The Chinese is the received text of the Zhou Yi; the English is ours. Lines and images that speak of punishments, prisons, illness or money are left out. For entertainment and self-reflection.

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