坎 The Abysmal
Upper trigram: Water (water) · Lower trigram: Water (water)
Danger — keep flowing like water through the gorge.
Modern interpretation
You are in deep water. Do not panic and do not freeze — keep moving with sincerity and consistency, the way water finds its path through any gorge. Danger passed through calmly becomes wisdom you will use forever.
The Judgment · 卦辞
有孚维心，亨。行有尚。
“Khan, here repeated, shows the possession of sincerity, through which the mind is penetrating. Action (in accordance with this) will be of high value.” — James Legge, The Yî King (1882)
The six lines · 爻辞
Read from the bottom line upward. Each line pairs the received Chinese text with Legge's English translation.
习坎，入于坎，窞，凶。
“The first line, divided, shows its subject in the double defile, and (yet) entering a cavern within it. There will be evil.”
坎有险，求小得。
“The second line, undivided, shows its subject in all the peril of the defile. He will, however, get a little (of the deliverance) that he seeks.”
来之坎，坎险且枕，入于坎，窞，勿用。
“The third line, divided, shows its subject, whether he comes or goes ( = descends or ascends), confronted by a defile. All is peril to him and unrest. (His endeavours) will lead him into the cavern of the pit. There should be no action (in such a case).”
樽酒簋贰用缶，纳约自牖，终无咎。
“The fourth line, divided, shows its subject (at a feast), with (simply) a bottle of spirits, and a subsidiary basket of rice, while (the cups and bowls) are (only) of earthenware. He introduces his important lessons (as his ruler's) intelligence admits. There will in the end be no error.”
坎不盈，祗既平，无咎。
“The fifth line, undivided, shows the water of the defile not yet full, (so that it might flow away) ; but order will (soon) be brought about. There will be no error.”
系用徽纆，窴于丛棘，三岁不得，凶。
“The topmost line, divided, shows its subject bound with cords of three strands or two strands, and placed in the thicket of thorns. But in three years he does not learn the course for him to pursue. There will be evil.”
About changing lines
In a real I Ching reading, hexagrams are built by casting coins or yarrow stalks six times, bottom line first. Some lines come out “old” (unstable) — an old yin or old yang flips into its opposite, producing a second hexagram that shows where the situation is heading. The changing lines are the moving parts of your answer: read their individual line statements above, and they point to the direction of change.
Ask a question and cast the coins — free, with a plain-English interpretation grounded in the classical text.
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