Hexagram 47: Oppression
Kun · 困
The Judgment
Success. Persistence. The great person brings about good fortune. No blame. When you have something to say, it is not believed. Adversity is the reverse of success but can lead to success if it befalls the right person. The strong one remains cheerful despite danger—this cheerfulness is the source of later success, a stability stronger than fate. He who lets his spirit be broken has no success. But if adversity only bends you, it creates a power to react. In times of adversity, be strong within and sparing of words.
The Image
No water in the lake—exhaustion. Stake your life on following your will. When the water has flowed out below, the lake must dry up. This is fate. There is nothing you can do but acquiesce in your fate and remain true to yourself. This concerns the deepest stratum of being, which alone is superior to all external fate.
「澤無水，困。」湖裡沒有水，枯竭了。水從下面流走，湖只能乾涸，這是命運。這種時候沒有什麼可做的，只能接受命運，忠於自己。「君子以致命遂志」——用生命來實現意志。這涉及存在最深的層面，只有這個層面高於一切外在的命運。
The Six Lines
Sitting oppressed under a bare tree, straying into a gloomy valley. For three years, sees nothing. When adversity befalls you, be strong and overcome the trouble inwardly. If weak, the trouble overwhelms you. Sitting under a bare tree, falling into gloom and melancholy, makes everything more hopeless. This attitude comes from inner delusion that must be overcome.
Oppressed while at meat and drink. The one with scarlet knee bands is coming. It furthers one to offer sacrifice. To set forth brings misfortune. No blame. Inner oppression while externally all is well. Exhausted by the commonplaces of life with no way of escape. Help comes from a high place. Overcome disagreeable situations by patience of spirit.
Oppressed by stone, leaning on thorns and thistles. Enters the house and does not see his wife. Misfortune. Restless and indecisive in adversity. You butt your head against a wall and feel oppressed by it. Lean on things without stability. Turn back irresolutely only to find fresh disappointment. If oppressed by what ought not to oppress, disgrace follows.
Coming very quietly, oppressed in a golden carriage. Humiliation, but the end is reached. You see the need of others and would like to help but begin hesitantly. Drawn into the circle of powerful acquaintances, you can't withdraw. Great embarrassment, but the trouble is transitory. Original strength offsets the mistake; the goal is reached.
Nose and feet cut off. Oppression at the hands of the one with purple knee bands. Joy comes softly. It furthers one to make offerings. One who has the good of mankind at heart is oppressed from above and below, finding no help among those whose duty it would be to assist. But little by little, things turn for the better. Until then, turn to what is beyond, firm in inner composure.
Oppressed by creeping vines. Moving uncertainly and saying 'Movement brings remorse.' If you feel remorse over this and make a start, good fortune comes. Oppressed by bonds easily broken. The distress is ending but you're still irresolute, influenced by the previous condition, fearing regret if you move. Grasp the situation, change your mental attitude, make a firm decision—master the oppression.
Artwork & Treatise
The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun
William Blake, 1805
A seven-headed dragon towers over a woman clothed with the sun, its tails sweeping the stars. William Blake created this watercolor in 1805 as part of his Revelation series, depicting the apocalyptic vision from the Book of Revelation. The pregnant woman cowers beneath the beast's massive form, her radiant garments contrasting with the dragon's red scales. The image captures absolute vulnerability—celestial protection insufficient against overwhelming supernatural threat.
{artwork_reasoning}
This is Kùn (困), Oppression or Exhaustion, the hexagram describing the condition of being hemmed in, depleted, unable to advance. The character shows a tree enclosed within boundaries—vital energy constrained by circumstance. The trigram structure places Lake (Duì) above Water (Kǎn): water above water, the lake draining into the abyss below, resources exhausted. Blake's composition emphasizes this enclosure—the woman trapped beneath the dragon's looming presence, her position offering no escape, her pregnancy making flight impossible.
The Judgment text states: "Oppression. Success. Perseverance. The great man brings about good fortune. No blame. When one has something to say, it is not believed." The text offers paradoxical counsel—success and good fortune remain possible even in oppression, but words lose their power, explanations fail to convince. Blake's woman cannot argue with the beast above her; speech offers no defense against such force. In Zhou Dynasty divination, this hexagram appeared when drought exhausted wells, when sieges drained cities, when resources ran short despite best efforts. The configuration describes external constraint rather than internal failure—being trapped by circumstance, not character.
The Image Text observes: "There is no water in the lake: the image of Exhaustion. Thus the superior person stakes life on following will." The lake emptied, the well run dry—this is the hexagram's central image. What does one do when external resources fail? The text counsels reliance on internal conviction when external support vanishes. Blake's woman, despite her peril, remains clothed in the sun, her essential radiance maintained even under the dragon's shadow. In the I-Ching sequence, Kùn follows Shēng (pushing upward): after the climb comes the moment of exhaustion at the summit, or the crisis when upward progress meets overwhelming resistance. The woman's oppression is positional—caught between earth and beast with nowhere to retreat, the stars themselves falling around her, yet the text promises that perseverance and great character can find success even here.
Yilin Verse
席多針刺，不可以臥。動而有悔，言行俱過。
Jiao Yanshou's Forest of Changes (焦氏易林) — Unchanging verse for 困 (Kùn)
Character-by-Character Breakdown
Classical Chinese text with pinyin and English meanings