Hexagram 39: Jian

Water over Mountain · 水山蹇 · Tendency: Inauspicious

Structure

• Number: 39 (King Wen sequence)
• Symbol: ䷦
• Upper trigram: Kan (Water)
• Lower trigram: Gen (Mountain)
• Lines: yin yin yang yin yang yin (bottom to top)

The statement

利西南，不利东北。利见大人。贞吉。

——《周易》

What this hexagram indicates

This hexagram indicates obvious obstacles on the road; continuing forcefully will be very taxing. Suitable for changing routes, seeking help from experienced people, or pausing to adjust methods. Don't mistake persistence for bravado; when the direction is wrong, more effort leads to more discomfort.

A Buddhist reading

Jian (Obstruction) means hardship. The line Ouyi Zhixu weighs most heavily comes from the image: every dangerous and difficult situation is made and manifested by your own mind, so there is no blaming heaven or other people, only turning back to cultivate virtue. He compares it to tending a mountain: patch the gap and the water returns to its ravine instead of flooding across your path. The foolish, he says, are so drowned in craving that they cannot even see danger in front of them, let alone halt; seeing danger and being able to stop is what deserves the name wisdom. For the fifth line he cites Shakyamuni attaining awakening in a defiled age and teaching a truth hard to believe.

After Ouyi Zhixu (1599-1655), whose Chan commentary on the Changes reads each hexagram as a stage of practice.

The statement is quoted from the Book of Changes, which is in the public domain. The English reading on this page was prepared for this library.

Related hexagrams

• Previous / Opposite: Hexagram 38: Kuievery line changed to its opposite
• Next / Inverted: Hexagram 40: Xiethe whole figure turned upside down
• Nuclear: Hexagram 64: Wei Jilines two to four below, three to five above

Related

• Liu Yao Divination ChartLiu Yao casts a hexagram about one specific matter and reads its structure. Unlike BaZi or Zi Wei, which describe a person, Liu Yao describes how a situation stands at a particular moment. This page walks through the full process from casting to attribution.
• Mei Hua Yi Shu CalculatorMei Hua Yi Shu is traditionally attributed to Shao Yong. What sets it apart is how freely it casts: a time, a spoken number, a direction or something noticed in passing will all serve. It attaches no stems and no relatives, reading the trigrams directly. This page covers casting through to the subject and object.