King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Hexagram 29 坎 changing to hexagram 18 蠱

kǎn
→
gǔ

Changing lines (counted from the bottom): 3, 5, 6.

What to read

Three changing lines: read the judgments of the original and the resulting hexagram; the original is the main one. (Rule set out by Zhu Xi in the Yixue qimeng.)

Judgment of hexagram 29 坎

習坎:有孚,維心亨。行有尚。

Khan, here repeated, shows the possession of sincerity, through which the mind is. penetrating. Action (in accordance with this) will be of high value.

Judgment of hexagram 18 蠱

元亨。利涉大川。先甲三日,後甲三日。

Kû indicates great progress and success (to him who deals properly with the condition represented by it). There will be advantage in (efforts like that of) crossing the great stream. (He should weigh well, however, the events of) three days before the turning point, and those (to be done) three days after it.

The two hexagrams

Hexagram 29 坎 — judgment

習坎:有孚,維心亨。行有尚。

Khan, here repeated, shows the possession of sincerity, through which the mind is. penetrating. Action (in accordance with this) will be of high value.

Hexagram 18 蠱 — judgment

元亨。利涉大川。先甲三日,後甲三日。

Kû indicates great progress and success (to him who deals properly with the condition represented by it). There will be advantage in (efforts like that of) crossing the great stream. (He should weigh well, however, the events of) three days before the turning point, and those (to be done) three days after it.

The changing lines of hexagram 29

LineChineseLegge
3來之坎坎,險且枕,入于坎窞,勿用。The third line, 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).
5坎不盈,禔既平,无咎。The fifth line, 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.
6係用徽纆,寘于叢棘,三歲不得,凶。The topmost line, 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.

English: James Legge (1882), public domain. Chinese: Zhou Yi.

Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0); Chinese Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.