Hexagram 47 of 64 · King Wen sequence
困 · kùn
The lake above water, drained from below: exhaustion — the emptied vessel, the words that no longer carry.
The lake drains through its bed: Oppression is the hexagram of genuine exhaustion — the season when the great man cannot be trusted, words do not carry, and strength is spent before the day starts. The tradition does not sugar it: even sacrifice does not carry here.
Its counsel is about the inner state only: in extremity, the great man keeps his joy — not the circumstances, the joy. The outer victory is postponed; the inner ground must not be ceded. This is the discipline of the emptied season: stay a person, not a casualty.
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