The Book of Changes · Kun

Hexagram 47: Oppression

Lake (still water held in a hollow) over Water (the gorge and the deep)

The lake with the water drained out of it: exhaustion, and being unable to be heard. The tradition's specific warning is that in this state what a person says is not believed, so acting matters more than explaining.

The image

A lake with no water. The reading is that a person stakes their life on following their will, because that is the one thing oppression cannot take.

Lake, above

Openness, pleasure, and what is said out loud.

Water, below

Danger, depth, and what has to be gone through.

The six lines

Read from the bottom up.

1. Line 1Sitting under a bare tree, straying into a dark valley. Three years without being seen.
2. Line 2Worn down in the middle of plenty. The recognition arrives; make the offering, and do not set out.
3. Line 3Leaning on thorns, and coming home to an empty house. Misfortune, and it is the low point.
4. Line 4Coming very quietly, and hemmed in even in comfort. Humiliating, and it comes to an end.
5. Line 5Cut at from above, and joy comes back slowly. Make the offering rather than the argument.
6. Line 6Tangled in creepers, moving uncertainly. Say that moving brings regret, and then move: it goes well.

The same figure in Human Design

Human Design took its sixty four gates from this book, in this numbering, so hexagram 47 is Gate 47, Realizing.