Reading
Judgment
The Abysmal, repeated.
If you are truthful, you have success in the heart,
and what you do has accomplishment.
Through the repetition of danger one grows accustomed to it. Water gives the example for the right conduct in such states. It flows on and on and merely fills up every place through which it flows; it does not shrink back from any dangerous spot, from any plunge, and by nothing does it lose its own essential kind. It remains true to itself in all conditions. Thus truthfulness in difficult relations brings it about that one inwardly penetrates the situation in one's heart. And when one has first become inwardly master of a situation, it will come about quite of itself that outer actions will be attended with success. In danger it is a matter of thoroughness, which really carries through everything that is to be done, and of advancing forward, so that one does not perish by lingering in the danger.
Applied actively, danger can have an important meaning as a protective measure. Thus heaven has its dangerous height, which protects it against any attempted intrusion. Thus the earth has its mountains and bodies of water, which, through their dangers, separate countries. In the same way rulers use danger as a protective measure, to shield themselves outwardly against attacks, inwardly against disturbances.
Image
Water flows uninterruptedly and reaches its goal:
the image of the Abysmal repeated.
Thus the noble one walks in lasting virtue
and practices the business of teaching.
Water reaches its goal through uninterrupted flowing. It fills every hollow before it flows on. Thus does the noble one. They set store by the good becoming a firm property of character, not remaining accidental and isolated. In teaching others too, everything depends on consistency. For only through repetition does the material become the property of the learner.
Commentary
This hexagram consists of the doubling of the hexagram K'an. It is one of the eight double hexagrams. The hexagram K'an means plunging in. A Yang line has plunged in between two Yin lines and is enclosed by them like water in a ravine. It is the middle son. The Receptive has attained the middle line of the Creative, and so K'an arises. As an image it is water, namely the water that comes from above and is in motion on earth in rivers and streams, and that occasions all life on earth. Transferred to the human being it represents the heart, the soul enclosed in the body, the light contained in the dark, reason. The name of the hexagram, because it is doubled, has the addition: Repetition of danger. Thereby the hexagram is meant to denote an objective situation to which one must accustom oneself, not a subjective disposition. For danger as a subjective disposition means either foolhardiness or cunning. Therefore the danger is also called a ravine, that is, a condition in which one finds oneself as the water in a ravine, and from which one gets out as the water does, if one conducts oneself rightly.
Changing Lines
Line 1
A six at the beginning means:
Repetition of the Abysmal.
In the abyss one falls into a pit. Misfortune.
Commentary
Habit of the dangerous easily causes danger to enter into one's own being. One comes to know one's way about and grows accustomed to evil. Thereby one has lost the right path, and misfortune is the natural consequence.
Line 2
A nine in the second place means:
The abyss has danger.
One should strive to attain only small things.
Commentary
Within danger one must not at once strive to get out under all circumstances, but must first be content if one is not overcome by the danger. One must calmly consider the conditions of the time and be content with small things, since for the time being a great success is not to be attained. A spring also flows only sparingly at first, and it takes time before it makes its way to the open.
Line 3
A six in the third place means:
Forward and backward, abyss on abyss.
In such danger, pause at first;
otherwise you will fall into a pit in the abyss.
Do not act so.
Commentary
Every step forward and backward brings one into danger. Escape is not to be thought of. Therefore one must not let oneself be seduced into action through which one would only come into still deeper danger. Rather one must, as unpleasant as lingering in such a situation is, first pause until a way out shows itself.
Line 4
A six in the fourth place means:
A jug of wine, a dish of rice as an addition, earthenware,
simply handed in through the window.
That is in no way a blame.
Commentary
In times of danger elaborate forms cease. The main thing is the truthful disposition. An official normally needs, before being installed, certain introductory gifts and recommendations. Here everything is simplified to the utmost. The gifts are meager, a recommender is not at hand, one introduces oneself, and yet one need not be ashamed of any of this, if only one has the honest intention to help one another in danger.
Another thought is further suggested: the window is the place through which brightness comes into the room. If in difficult times one wishes to enlighten someone, one must begin with what is immediately clear and bright, and from there proceed quite simply. (Note: The usual translation "two dishes of rice" has been emended on the basis of Chinese commentaries.)
Line 5
A nine in the fifth place means:
The abyss is not overflowing;
it is only filled up to the rim.
No blame.
Commentary
The danger arises from wanting to go too high. The water in the ravine does not pile itself up, but only goes to the lowest rim in order to come out. So too in danger one need only proceed along the line of least resistance; then one attains the goal. Great works cannot be accomplished in such times; it is enough if one comes out of the danger.
Line 6
A six at the top means:
Bound with cords and ropes,
shut in between thorny prison walls;
for three years one does not find one's way.
Misfortune!
Commentary
A person who in extreme danger has lost the right way and is incorrigibly caught up in their sins has no prospect of getting out of the danger. They resemble a criminal who sits bound behind thorny prison walls.