Upper trigram
☵
Water (Kan) above
Danger and depth.
FamilyMiddle son
ElementWater
Hexagram 48 of 64
I Ching hexagram 48 ☵☴ The Well
I Ching hexagram 48, The Well, is water above, wind below. In brief: the source that does not move but nourishes all. Counting from the bottom, its solid lines sit in places 2, 3 and 5 and its broken lines in 1, 4 and 6.
- Lines, bottom up
- ⚋⚊⚊⚋⚊⚋ 011010 · 1 = solid
- Trigrams
- Water over Wind Kan ☵ / Xun ☴
- Every line changed
- № 21 Biting Through
- In Legge, 1882
- p. 164 Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16
Legge, The Yî King, 1882.
Lower trigram
☴
Wind (Xun) below
Gentle penetration.
FamilyEldest daughter
ElementWood
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What the text says, in plain terms
The Judgement and the Image of hexagram 48
The Judgement
The well: a source that stays the same while towns change around it. Its water is there for everyone, but a broken rope or cracked jug means it cannot be drawn.
The Image
Water raised by wood, like a bucket on a rope. The lesson is to encourage people to work together and help one another.
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 48 in James Legge’s translation
“(Looking at) Zing, (we think of) how (the site of) a town may be changed, while (the fashion of) its wells undergoes no change. (The water of a well) never disappears and never receives (any great) increase, and those who come and those who go can draw and enjoy the benefit. If (the drawing) have nearly been accomplished, but, before the rope has quite reached the water, the bucket is broken, this is evil.”
“(The trigram representing) wood and above it that for water form Zing. The superior man, in accordance with this, comforts the people, and stimulates them to mutual helpfulness.”
The lines
- Line 1 · bottom The first line, divided, shows a well so muddy that men will not drink of it; or an old well to which neither birds (nor other creatures) resort.
- Line 2 The second line, undivided, shows a well from which by a hole the water escapes and flows away to the shrimps (and such small creatures among the grass), or one the water of which leaks away from a broken basket.
- Line 3 The third line, undivided, shows a well, which has been cleared out, but is not used. Our hearts are sorry for this, for the water might be drawn out and used. If the king were (only) intelligent, both he and we might receive the benefit of it.
- Line 4 The fourth line, divided, shows a well, the lining of which is well laid. There will be no error.
- Line 5 The fifth line, undivided, shows a clear, limpid well, (the waters from) whose cold spring are (freely) drunk.
- Line 6 · top The topmost line, divided, shows (the water from) the well brought to the top, which is not allowed to be covered. This suggests the idea of sincerity. There will be great good fortune.
James Legge, trans., The Yî King, The Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1882), p. 164 — 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.
The Well for a decision
Go back to the fundamental source — core skills, basic needs, shared resources — and make sure the means of reaching it are in working order.
I Ching 48 in love and relationships
Deep, reliable sources of support. Maintain them; neglected, they become useless even when they are still there.
Hexagram 48 at work
Infrastructure, public services and core systems. Fixing the basic mechanisms matters more than adding new features.
The six lines of hexagram 48
Read from the bottom up. This figure runs yin yang yang yin yang yin — what each position means.
3 yang and 3 yin lines. Four of the six stand in their proper place, and the pair 3–6 answers.
What the two trigrams do to each other
Inner and outer
Wind below — gentle penetration — is the private, inner side of hexagram 48.
Water above — danger and depth — is the world that side meets.
The five-element relation
Water above generates Wood 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 middle son sits above and the eldest daughter 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 48
Nuclear hexagram
38 · Opposition
What is happening beneath the surface.
Lines 2–4 give Dui (Lake) as the lower trigram, lines 3–5 give Li (Fire) as the upper.
Opposite hexagram
21 · Biting Through
The situation turned inside out.
Change all six lines and Water over Wind becomes Fire over Thunder.
Inverse hexagram
47 · Oppression
The situation seen from the other side.
Turn the figure upside down and Water over Wind becomes Lake over Water.
None of these are assigned by an author — each follows from the arrangement of lines.
The image
Water above, Wind below.
Water over Wind: danger and depth meeting gentle penetration.
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 48: The Well.” Accessed October 27, 2026. https://astrohot.com/i-ching/hexagram/48/
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