Hexagram 29 — Gorge
King Wen #29 · plain-language meaning, the Image, and the classical text
Repeated danger, gorge upon gorge. The heart must stay steady and true through the deep water.
What Hexagram 29 Means 白话解读
Hexagram 29 places water (坎) beneath water (坎) — water finding its way through hard gaps below, water finding its way through hard gaps above. This is why the tradition reads it as “Gorge”: repeated danger, gorge upon gorge. The heart must stay steady and true through the deep water. Whenever you cast this figure, the classical reading points back to that turning of forces.
The Image 象傳
水洊至，習坎；君子以常德行，習教事。
(The representation of) water flowing on continuously forms the repeated Khan. The superior man, in accordance with this, maintains constantly the virtue (of his heart) and (the integrity of) his conduct, and practises the business of instruction.— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
Water arrives again and again: repeated danger. The wise keep their conduct constant and rehearse what they teach.— plain-English rendering by The Hexagrams2
Hexagram 29 in Real Questions 實問實答
With money and work
Gorge describes repeated danger, gorge upon gorge. The heart must stay steady and true through the deep water — and that is the posture the tradition recommends for practical matters under this figure: water finding its way through hard gaps, held inside a larger setting of water finding its way through hard gaps. It names a shape of timing, not a sum.
For a decision
If you cast Gorge about a choice, the figure's counsel is the same movement it pictures: repeated danger, gorge upon gorge. The heart must stay steady and true through the deep water. When lines move in your cast, read them against this base — the moving lines show which part of the figure is awake for you, and the changed hexagram shows where it is heading.
Questions About Hexagram 29
What does 坎 (kǎn) mean?
Hexagram 29 of the I Ching is named 坎 (kǎn), usually rendered "Gorge" in English editions. Its figure is the doubled trigram water (坎) — water finding its way through hard gaps above and below.
Is hexagram 29 a good omen?
The received text of hexagram 29 contains no promise of easy good fortune — its six lines carry cautionary language instead of blessings. That is the point of the figure: it names a real difficulty, and its reading is about how to move through it, not whether it is comfortable.
What does hexagram 29 mean in love?
In a relationship reading, Gorge points to repeated danger, gorge upon gorge. The heart must stay steady and true through the deep water. The figure pairs water (坎) beneath water (坎) — water finding its way through hard gaps meeting water finding its way through hard gaps — which is the traditional picture of how this energy behaves between two people. For how to phrase a love question before casting, see our guide to asking the I Ching about love.
What does hexagram 29 mean for career and money?
Career and money questions read Gorge through the figure itself: water (坎) below, water (坎) above — water finding its way through hard gaps held inside water finding its way through hard gaps. The plain reading: Repeated danger, gorge upon gorge. The heart must stay steady and true through the deep water. The text promises no easy good fortune; it names a difficulty to be worked through, so its counsel for money and work is caution before gain.
What do the changing lines of hexagram 29 mean?
A cast of hexagram 29 can produce moving lines. Each of the six lines has its own statement (爻辭) in the classical text below, read from the bottom up, and a moving line is read as the part of the figure that is awake for your question. When a line moves it turns into its opposite, and the whole figure becomes a second hexagram: changing every line of 29 gives hexagram 30, 離 (Radiance). Every line also has a page of its own on this site — Line 1 through Line 6 under this hexagram — with the classical Chinese and Legge's translation side by side.
How is hexagram 29 related to the other hexagrams?
Changing every line of hexagram 29 gives hexagram 30 — 離 (Radiance). Turned upside down, the figure is itself — one of the eight hexagrams that stay unchanged when inverted. Its nuclear hexagram — the inner pattern of lines 2 through 5 — is hexagram 27 — 頤 (Swallowing).
Cast it yourself
Shake the tube, watch your own coins fall.
- The hexagram's classical meaning — judgment and all six lines
- Moving lines marked — but not read for you
- No account, no email, nothing to pay
Get the reading, not just the text
Same cast, read all the way through:
- Every line read for you — what each moving line means inside your question
- The changed hexagram — where your situation is heading, and how to read the turn
- A closing that answers you directly — act, wait, or say it out loud
New to casting? How it works · All 64 hexagrams
Related Hexagrams 錯綜互
The Classical Text 經文
有孚，維心亨。行有尚。
Kan, here repeated, shows the possession of sincerity, through which the mind is. penetrating. Action (in accordance with this) will be of high value.— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
The Six Lines 爻辞
習坎，入于坎窞，凶。
The first SIX, divided, shows its subject in the double defile, and (yet) entering a cavern within it. There will be evil.
坎有險，求小得。
The second NINE, undivided, shows its subject in all the peril of the defile. He will, however, get a little (of the deliverance) that he seeks.
來之坎坎，險且枕，入于坎窞，勿用。
The third SIX, 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，簋貳，用缶，納約自牖，終無咎。
The fourth SIX, 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，無咎。
The fifth NINE, 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.
係用徽纆，寘于叢棘，三歲不得，凶。
The topmost SIX, 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.
Line by Line 逐爻细读
1 Legge, James. The Yi King, Sacred Books of the East vol. XVI (1899), public domain. Classical Chinese from the received Zhouyi text.2 The Image (象傳) is an ancient text in the public domain; its plain-English gloss here is original to The Hexagrams, not a quotation from any copyrighted edition. · For reflection and entertainment — not financial, medical, or life advice.