困 → 坎

Commentary

A lake without water gives way to doubled water, the Abysmal repeated. A serpentine course follows the river northward to the ocean's edge, traversing the far reaches of the realm. Yet the sovereign's line continues without incident. The image evokes the great inspection tours of antiquity: the sage-king traveling to the empire's remotest borders, not in conquest but in governance, ensuring that even the frontier peoples are reached. From Oppression to the Abysmal, water upon water doubles the peril but also doubles the constancy. The gentleman practices virtue unceasingly and teaches by repetition. The sovereign who journeys through the wasteland and returns unscathed demonstrates precisely this: steady presence maintained through danger, the ruler's Way unchanged despite the abyss.