Upper Trigram
坎 Kǎn
Water — Abysmal
Lower Trigram
離 Lí
Fire — Clinging
Classical Texts
The Judgment
Success in small matters. Persistence furthers. At the beginning good fortune, at the end disorder. The transition from the old to the new time is already accomplished. In principle, everything stands systematized, and it is only in regard to details that success is still to be achieved. We must be careful to maintain the right attitude. Everything proceeds as if of its own accord, and this can all too easily tempt us to relax and let things take their course without troubling over details. Such indifference is the root of all evil. Symptoms of decay are bound to be the result. This is the rule indicating the usual course of history. But this rule is not an inescapable law. He who understands it can avoid its effects through unremitting perseverance and caution.
The Lines
Line 1
He brakes his wheels. He gets his tail in the water. No blame. In times following a great transition, everything is pressing forward in the direction of development and progress. But this pressing forward at the beginning is not good; it overshoots the mark and leads with certainty to loss and collapse. Therefore a person of strong character does not allow themselves to be infected by the general intoxication but checks their course in time. He may not remain altogether untouched by disastrous consequences, like a fox that at the last minute gets its tail wet, but will not suffer any real harm because behavior has been correct.
Line 2
The woman loses the curtain of her carriage. Do not run after it; on the seventh day you will get it. Especially in times 'after completion,' those who have come to power grow arrogant and conceited and no longer trouble themselves about fostering new talent. We are warned: do not seek it. Do not throw yourself away on the world, but wait tranquilly and develop your personal worth by your own efforts. Times change. That which is your own cannot be permanently lost. It comes to you of its own accord. You need only be able to wait.
Line 3
The Illustrious Ancestor disciplines the Devil's Country. After three years he conquers it. Inferior people must not be employed. After times of completion, when a new power has arisen and everything within the country has been set in order, a period of colonial expansion almost inevitably follows. Long-drawn-out struggles must be reckoned with. A correct colonial policy is especially important. The territory won at such bitter cost must not be regarded as an almshouse for people who have made themselves impossible at home.
Line 4
The finest clothes turn to rags. Be careful all day long. In a time of flowering culture, an occasional convulsion is bound to occur, uncovering hidden evil within society. Since the situation is favorable on the whole, such evils can easily be glossed over and concealed from the public. Then everything is forgotten and peace apparently reigns complacently. However, to the thoughtful person, such occurrences are grave omens that should not be neglected. This is the only way of averting evil consequences.
Line 5
The neighbor in the east who slaughters an ox does not attain as much real happiness as the neighbor in the west with his small offering. In divine worship, the simple old forms are replaced by ever more elaborate ritual and ever greater outward display. But inner seriousness is lacking in this show of magnificence; human caprice takes the place of conscientious obedience to the divine will. Man sees what is before his eyes; God looks into the heart. Therefore a simple sacrifice offered with real piety holds a greater blessing than an impressive service without warmth.
Line 6
He gets his head in the water. Danger. After crossing a stream, your head can get into the water only if you are so imprudent as to turn back. As long as you go forward and do not look back, you escape this danger. But there is a fascination in standing still and looking back on a peril overcome. Such vain self-admiration brings misfortune. It leads only to danger, and unless you finally resolve to go forward without pausing, you fall victim to this danger.
Yilin: Forest of Changes
From Jiao Yanshou's Forest of Changes (焦氏易林) — the verse for Hexagram 63 in its unchanging form. A Han dynasty collection of four-character verses interpreting every hexagram transformation.
玄兔指掌，與足相恃。謹訊詰問，誣情自直。冤死誰告，口為身禍。
The black rabbit points with its paw, hand and foot accusing each other. Careful interrogation and questioning; false charges straighten themselves out. Who will tell the wrongly dead? The mouth brings disaster to the body.
Read full commentary ↓
Water sits above fire — After Completion returning to itself. The dark hare points with its paw, relying on its feet for support. Under rigorous interrogation, false accusations are straightened out on their own. Yet the unjustly dead have no one to appeal to, for the mouth that should speak becomes the body's undoing. The verse oscillates between justice and its failure: inquiry can expose falsehood, but sometimes truth arrives too late, after the innocent are already dead. The mouth — instrument of both testimony and self-incrimination — is the pivot. From After Completion to After Completion, the hexagram meets its own mirror. There is no transformation, only the completed order confronting its own internal contradictions: the system that can both vindicate and destroy.
中文注释
水在火上，既濟之象，復歸自身。玄兔指掌——黑兔以前足指示。與足相恃——前後足相互依恃。謹訊詰問——嚴加審訊追問。誣情自直——冤枉之情自然明白。冤死誰告——含冤而死者向誰申訴？口為身禍——能言之口反為自身招禍。正義與其失敗之間擺盪：審訊能辯明誣枉，但有時真相到來已太遲——冤者已死。口既為證詞之器，亦為自取其禍之源。既濟至既濟，卦與自身之鏡像相對。無變化可言，唯完成之秩序直面自身之內在矛盾：能平反亦能殺人之同一體制。
Related Hexagrams
Same upper trigram: Water (坎)