Upper trigram
☵
Water · Kan
Danger and depth.
FamilyMiddle son
ElementWater
Hexagram 39 of 64
☵☶ Obstruction
Hexagram 39 of the 64, Obstruction, is water above, mountain below — read as an obstacle that calls for a different route. Its six lines are 100010, counted from the bottom up, where a broken line is yielding and a solid one firm.
Lower trigram
☶
Mountain · Gen
Stillness and limit.
FamilyYoungest son
ElementEarth
From the Book of Changes itself
The Judgement and the Image
The Judgement
Obstruction. The south-west furthers. The north-east does not further. It furthers one to see the great person.
The Image
Water on the mountain. The superior person turns their attention to themselves and moulds their character.
These two texts are the hexagram. Everything else — the trigram analysis, the line positions, the modern keyword — is commentary built on top of them. The Judgement states the situation and its outlook; the Image draws the practical conclusion, and by convention begins with what the trigrams show in nature.
Rendered in plain English from the canonical text rather than copied from any one translation. If you want a specific scholarly version, Wilhelm-Baynes and Lynn are the two usually recommended.
The six lines
Read from the bottom up. This figure runs yang yin yin yin yang yin — what each position means.
| Line | This hexagram | What the position means |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | ▬▬ ▬▬ yin | the situation past its peak — completion, or overreach |
| 5 | ▬▬▬▬▬ yang | the ruling position, usually the most favourable in the hexagram |
| 4 | ▬▬ ▬▬ yin | entering the outer sphere — proximity to authority, exposure |
| 3 | ▬▬ ▬▬ yin | the transition point, and the most dangerous position in the figure |
| 2 | ▬▬ ▬▬ yin | the inner sphere — home, private life, what you are among your own |
| 1 | ▬▬▬▬▬ yang | the beginning of the situation, still hidden and barely formed |
What the two trigrams do to each other
Inner and outer
The lower trigram is the inner situation — Mountain, stillness and limit. This is what is happening in you, or in the private side of the matter.
The upper trigram is the outer situation — Water, danger and depth. This is the world the inner position meets.
The five-element relation
Earth below controls Water above. The inner position restrains the outer, which reads as holding back circumstance rather than being carried by it.
Read as a family
Read as family, this is Middle son above and Youngest son below. Two siblings, which reads as relationship between equals rather than hierarchy.
The eight trigrams are traditionally assigned family roles — Heaven is the father, Earth the mother, and the remaining six are three sons and three daughters. Which one sits above which is part of how a hexagram is read.
Calculated from the lines
Hexagrams connected to this one
Nuclear hexagram
16 · Enthusiasm
Built from lines 2-3-4 and 3-4-5 of this figure — the hexagram hidden inside it. Read as what is happening beneath the surface of the situation.
Opposite hexagram
38 · Opposition
Every line flipped. The same situation turned inside out — useful for seeing what you are not currently considering.
Inverse hexagram
40 · Deliverance
The same figure turned upside down — traditionally read as the situation seen from the other party's side.
None of these are assigned by an author — each follows from the arrangement of lines.
The image
Water above, Mountain below.
Water over Mountain: danger and depth meeting stillness and limit.
That combination is the whole meaning of hexagram 39. Nothing about it is arbitrary — change either trigram and you get a different hexagram with a different reading, which is why the 64 form a system rather than a list.