蹇 Obstruction
Upper trigram: Water (water) · Lower trigram: Mountain (the mountain)
The way forward is blocked — turn inward and find another angle.
Modern interpretation
Stop pushing against the blocked path. Turn back, reflect, gather allies, and approach from a different angle entirely. Obstruction is information: it tells you this route was never yours.
The Judgment · 卦辞
利西南，不利东北。利见大人。贞吉。
“In (the state indicated by) Kien advantage will be found in the south-west, and the contrary in the north-east. It will be advantageous (also) to meet with the great man (In these circumstances), with firmness and correctness, there will be good fortune.” — 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.
往蹇来誉。
“From the first line, divided, we learn that advance (on the part of its subject) will lead to (greater) difficulties, while remaining stationary will afford ground for praise.”
王臣蹇蹇，匪躬之故。
“The second line, divided, shows the minister of the king struggling with difficulty on difficulty, and not with a view to his own advantage.”
往蹇来反。
“The third line, undivided, shows its subject advancing, (but only) to (greater) difficulties. He remains stationary, and returns (to his former associates).”
往蹇来连。
“The fourth line, divided, shows its subject advancing, (but only) to (greater) difficulties. He remains stationary, and unites (with the subject of the line above).”
大蹇朋来。
“The fifth line, undivided, shows its subject struggling with the greatest difficulties, while friends are coming to help him.”
往蹇来硕，吉，利见大人。
“The topmost line, divided, shows its subject going forward (only to increase) the difficulties, while his remaining stationary will be (productive of) great (merit). There will be good fortune, and it will be advantageous to meet with the great man.”
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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