I Ching · King Wen 47 of 64
Hexagram 47 — Oppression (Kùn)
- exhaustion
- scarcity
- inner faith
Lake (joy and openness) over Water (depth and danger)
Meaning
The lake is drained dry: a time of exhaustion where words are not believed. Remain cheerful in adversity; deeds, not talk, restore you.
The lake with the water drained out from beneath it: resources exhausted, and — the hexagram's cruelest detail — words disbelieved, so that explaining your situation only deepens it. The counter-move is oppression's single loophole: cheerfulness of spirit maintained as an act of will, expressed through deeds rather than accounts.
Love & Relationships
Strained circumstances test devotion; quiet steadfastness speaks loudest. In the depleted season, stop narrating your devotion and demonstrate it in small persistent acts. Presence when there is nothing to give is the proof that outlasts every speech.
Career & Work
Resources are cut; conserve, endure, and let results argue for you. Budget cut, headcount frozen, credibility questioned: make no speeches. Conserve, deliver something small and undeniable, and let the results do the talking your words currently cannot.
Advice
When words fail, be still and constant; oppression tests the great. Hold this counsel lightly but seriously: the I Ching describes the shape of the moment, and Oppression rewards those who move with that shape rather than against it.
Changing Lines
Changing lines in Oppression name the specific privations — sitting oppressed under a bare tree, oppressed by wine and food at a difficult feast, kneeling among golden carriages, and the top line's oppression by bindings that remorse can still loosen. A moving line locates the exact form your exhaustion takes and where the first slack in the rope will come.
Cast your own reading
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Frequently asked questions
- What does Hexagram 47 mean?
- Hexagram 47, Oppression (Kùn), is the hexagram of exhaustion, scarcity, inner faith: The lake is drained dry: a time of exhaustion where words are not believed.
- What does Hexagram 47 mean for love?
- In love readings, Oppression counsels: Strained circumstances test devotion; quiet steadfastness speaks loudest. In the depleted season, stop narrating your devotion and demonstrate it in small persistent acts. Presence when there is nothing to give is the proof that outlasts every speech.
- Is Hexagram 47 a good hexagram?
- In the I Ching no hexagram is simply good or bad — each describes a moment in time and how to meet it well. Oppression centers on exhaustion and scarcity, and its outcome depends on following its counsel: When words fail, be still and constant; oppression tests the great. Read as guidance rather than a verdict, it points the way to the best available outcome.