Upper trigram
☱
Lake (Dui) above
Joy and openness.
FamilyYoungest daughter
ElementMetal
Hexagram 47 of 64
I Ching hexagram 47 ☱☵ Oppression
I Ching hexagram 47, Oppression, is lake above, water below. In brief: exhaustion and confinement. Counting from the bottom, its solid lines sit in places 2, 4 and 5 and its broken lines in 1, 3 and 6.
- Lines, bottom up
- ⚋⚊⚋⚊⚊⚋ 010110 · 1 = solid
- Trigrams
- Lake over Water Dui ☱ / Kan ☵
- Every line changed
- № 22 Grace
- In Legge, 1882
- p. 161 Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16
Legge, The Yî King, 1882.
Lower trigram
☵
Water (Kan) below
Danger and depth.
FamilyMiddle son
ElementWater
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What the text says, in plain terms
The Judgement and the Image of hexagram 47
The Judgement
Oppression and exhaustion. Words are not believed and resources run dry, yet a person of strong character can still come through by staying true inside.
The Image
A lake with no water in it. The lesson is to stake your life on your purpose, even when circumstances offer no support.
A summary of meaning written for this site, not a translation — James Legge’s 1882 translation of the full text follows below. How the Judgement and the Image are read, and which translations to use →
Primary source
Hexagram 47 in James Legge’s translation
“In (the condition denoted by) Khwăn 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 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 lines
- Line 1 · bottom The first line, 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).
- Line 2 The second line, 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.
- Line 3 The third line, 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.
- Line 4 The fourth line, 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.
- Line 5 The fifth line, 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).
- Line 6 · top The sixth line, 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.
James Legge, trans., The Yî King, The Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1882), p. 161 — read the original text.
Words in parentheses are Legge’s own: in his preface he explains that they supply what the original writer left unsaid. “Undivided” and “divided” are his terms for yang and yin lines, counted from the bottom. The Image comes from the second appendix of the book, the Treatise on the Symbolism.
Oppression for a decision
You are under pressure with little outside help. Talk less, conserve strength and hold to what you believe in until conditions improve.
I Ching 47 in love and relationships
Feeling unheard or drained. Actions and steadiness speak where explanations fail.
Hexagram 47 at work
Burnout, lack of resources or not being believed. Protect your energy and focus on what you can control.
The six lines of hexagram 47
Read from the bottom up. This figure runs yin yang yin yang yang yin — what each position means.
3 yang and 3 yin lines. Two of the six stand in their proper place, and the pair 1–4 answers.
What the two trigrams do to each other
Inner and outer
Water below — danger and depth — is the private, inner side of hexagram 47.
Lake above — joy and openness — is the world that side meets.
The five-element relation
Metal above generates Water below, so the movement runs downward — the outer situation is feeding the inner one. Support arrives from outside rather than being generated within.
Read as a family
The youngest daughter sits above and the middle son below. A brother and a sister, the younger one on top — siblings rather than parent and child, with the junior one taking the lead.
Calculated from the lines
Hexagrams connected to hexagram 47
Nuclear hexagram
37 · The Family
What is happening beneath the surface.
Lines 2–4 give Li (Fire) as the lower trigram, lines 3–5 give Xun (Wind) as the upper.
Opposite hexagram
22 · Grace
The situation turned inside out.
Change all six lines and Lake over Water becomes Mountain over Fire.
Inverse hexagram
48 · The Well
The situation seen from the other side.
Turn the figure upside down and Lake over Water becomes Water over Wind.
None of these are assigned by an author — each follows from the arrangement of lines.
The image
Lake above, Water below.
Lake over Water: joy and openness meeting danger and depth.
Sources
Statements of fact on this page were checked against these sources in October 2026. How we choose and check sources: editorial policy.
Cite this page
AstroHot. “I Ching Hexagram 47: Oppression.” Accessed October 27, 2026. https://astrohot.com/i-ching/hexagram/47/
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