Upper trigram
☵
Water · Kan
Danger and depth.
FamilyMiddle son
ElementWater
Hexagram 48 of 64
☵☴ The Well
Hexagram 48 of the 64, The Well, is water above, wind below — read as the source that does not move but nourishes all. Its six lines are 110010, counted from the bottom up, where a broken line is yielding and a solid one firm.
Lower trigram
☴
Wind · Xun
Gentle penetration.
FamilyEldest daughter
ElementWood
From the Book of Changes itself
The Judgement and the Image
The Judgement
The well. The town may be changed but the well cannot be changed. It neither decreases nor increases.
The Image
Water over wood. The superior person encourages the people at their work and exhorts them to help one another.
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 yang 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 | ▬▬▬▬▬ yang | 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 — Wind, gentle penetration. 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
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
Read as family, this is Middle son above and Eldest daughter 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
62 · Small Exceeding
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
21 · Biting Through
Every line flipped. The same situation turned inside out — useful for seeing what you are not currently considering.
Inverse hexagram
47 · Oppression
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, Wind below.
Water over Wind: danger and depth meeting gentle penetration.
That combination is the whole meaning of hexagram 48. 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.