Hexagram 47 — Confining
King Wen #47 · plain-language meaning, the Image, and the classical text
Oppression: deep water and exhausted ground. The great person holds to purpose in hardship.
What Hexagram 47 Means 白话解读
Hexagram 47 places water (坎) beneath lake (兑) — water finding its way through hard gaps below, joy lifting what it touches above. This is why the tradition reads it as “Confining”: oppression: deep water and exhausted ground. The great person holds to purpose in hardship. Whenever you cast this figure, the classical reading points back to that turning of forces.
The Image 象傳
澤無水，困；君子以致命遂志。
(The trigram representing) a marsh, and (below it that for a defile, which has drained the other dry so that there is) no water in it, form Khwăn. The superior man, in accordance with this, will sacrifice his life in order to carry out his purpose.— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
A marsh drained of water: exhaustion. Even so, the wise stake their life on carrying their purpose through.— plain-English rendering by The Hexagrams2
Hexagram 47 in Real Questions 實問實答
With money and work
Confining describes oppression: deep water and exhausted ground. The great person holds to purpose in hardship — 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 joy lifting what it touches. It names a shape of timing, not a sum.
For a decision
If you cast Confining about a choice, the figure's counsel is the same movement it pictures: oppression: deep water and exhausted ground. The great person holds to purpose in hardship. 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 47
What does 困 (kùn) mean?
Hexagram 47 of the I Ching is named 困 (kùn), usually rendered "Confining" in English editions. Its figure is built from water (坎) below and lake (兑) above — water finding its way through hard gaps beneath joy lifting what it touches.
Is hexagram 47 a good omen?
The received text of hexagram 47 is warm: it contains 2 occurrences of 吉 (good fortune), 2 of 凶 (misfortune), and 2 of 無咎 (no blame). The classical verdict is broadly favourable — with the lines' own conditions attached (the text notes possible regret 悔 where the moment is mishandled).
What does hexagram 47 mean in love?
In a relationship reading, Confining points to oppression: deep water and exhausted ground. The great person holds to purpose in hardship. The figure pairs water (坎) beneath lake (兑) — water finding its way through hard gaps meeting joy lifting what it touches — 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 47 mean for career and money?
Career and money questions read Confining through the figure itself: water (坎) below, lake (兑) above — water finding its way through hard gaps held inside joy lifting what it touches. The plain reading: Oppression: deep water and exhausted ground. The great person holds to purpose in hardship. The text carries 2 mentions of 吉 (good fortune) and 2 of 凶 (misfortune), so it is read as workable — provided the conduct the lines describe is kept.
What do the changing lines of hexagram 47 mean?
A cast of hexagram 47 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 47 gives hexagram 22, 賁 (Adorning). 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 47 related to the other hexagrams?
Changing every line of hexagram 47 gives hexagram 22 — 賁 (Adorning). Turned upside down it becomes hexagram 48 — 井 (Welling). Its nuclear hexagram — the inner pattern of lines 2 through 5 — is hexagram 37 — 家人 (Dwelling People).
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
亨。貞，大人吉，無咎；有言不信。
In (the condition denoted by) Kun there may (yet be) progress and success. For the firm and correct, the (really) great man, there will be good fortune. He will fall into no error. If he make speeches, his words cannot be made good.— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
The Six Lines 爻辞
臀困于株木，入于幽谷，三歲不覿。
The first SIX, divided, shows its subject with bare buttocks straitened under the stump of a tree. He enters a dark valley, and for three years has no prospect (of deliverance).
困于酒食，朱紱方來，利用享祀；征凶，無咎。
The second NINE, undivided, shows its subject straitened amidst his wine and viands. There come to him anon the red knee-covers (of the ruler). It will be well for him (to maintain his sincerity as) in sacrificing. Active operations (on his part) will lead to evil, but he will be free from blame.
困于石，據于蒺藜，入于其宮，不見其妻，凶。
The third SIX, divided, shows its subject straitened before a (frowning) rock. He lays hold of thorns. He enters his palace, and does not see his wife. There will be evil.
來徐徐，困于金車，吝，有終。
The fourth NINE, undivided shows its subject proceeding very slowly (to help the subject of the first line), who is straitened by the carriage adorned with metal in front of him. There will be occasion for regret, but the end will be good.
劓刖，困于赤紱，乃徐有說，利用祭祀。
The fifth NINE, undivided, shows its subject with his nose and feet cut off. He is straitened by (his ministers in their) scarlet aprons. He is leisurely in his movements, however, and is satisfied. It will be well for him to be (as sincere) as in sacrificing (to spiritual beings).
困于葛藟，于臲卼，曰動悔，有悔。征吉。
The sixth SIX, divided, shows its subject straitened, as if bound with creepers; or n a high and dangerous position, and saying (to himself), 'If I move, I shall repent it.' If he do repent of former errors, there will be good fortune in his going forward.
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.