What is Trạch Thủy Khốn and where does it sit among the 64 hexagrams?
Trạch Thủy Khốn (澤水困, the character 困 means hardship, exhaustion) is hexagram 47 of the 64 I Ching hexagrams in the King Wen sequence. The hexagram has six lines, three yang and three yin, with outer trigram Đoài ☱ (lake) above and inner trigram Khảm ☵ (water) below. Water below and lake above: properly water should fill the lake, but in this configuration the water has drained down and away, leaving only a dry lakebed. That is the central image of the hexagram: the outer shape remains, the inner source is gone.
Two layers of text must be distinguished. The classic text, comprising the Judgment (often called the Thoán từ) and the six line texts, is the oldest layer, traditionally attributed to King Wen and the Duke of Zhou. The commentary layer, comprising the Thoán truyện, Tượng truyện, Hệ từ, and Tự Quái, is later exegesis associated with the name Khổng Tử and his disciples. This article names each layer correctly and does not merge commentary into classic. The verse cards in Khổng Minh Thần Toán also include a card tied to hexagram Khốn, but that is the card text of a separate divination system, not a Chu Dịch line text, so the two are not mixed.
Why does hexagram Khốn follow hexagram Thăng?
According to the Tự Quái truyện, the old explanation runs "thăng nhi bất dĩ, tất khốn": rising without cease must reach hardship. Hexagram 46 is Phong Địa Thăng, the image of a tree growing up out of the earth, meaning ascent. But no ascent lasts forever. When growth has exceeded what the situation can hold, the next step is inevitably blockage, and that is hexagram Khốn. Reading Thăng and Khốn as a pair shows that the I Ching does not treat hardship as random misfortune but as a foreseeable consequence of growth without a stopping point.
What is the nuclear hexagram of Khốn?
The nuclear hexagram of Trạch Thủy Khốn is Phong Hỏa Gia Nhân (hexagram 37). A nuclear hexagram is formed by taking lines 2, 3, 4 as the inner trigram and lines 3, 4, 5 as the outer trigram of the new hexagram. For Khốn, the middle three lines give Ly below and Tốn above, that is Gia Nhân. Many hexagram commentaries treat the nuclear hexagram as the hidden layer of meaning inside a situation, and here that hidden layer is family matters, keeping the fire alive at home. This matches the line texts of Khốn, where images of the wife and close kin appear precisely in the heaviest lines.
What does the Judgment of Trạch Thủy Khốn say?
The original Chinese of the Judgment is: 困：亨，貞，大人吉，無咎。有言不信。 Sino-Vietnamese reading: Khốn: Hanh, trinh, đại nhân cát, vô cữu. Hữu ngôn bất tín.
Meaning: Khốn is exhaustion, yet it still succeeds. Holding firm is auspicious for the great person, no harm. Words spoken are not believed.
Three layers of meaning in one short sentence. First, the word "hanh" placed right beside "khốn" is a deliberate paradox: a time of hardship does not mean absolute deadlock, it still has its own path, provided the person involved keeps their integrity. Second, the word "đại nhân" limits the scope of the promise: the Judgment says it is auspicious for a person of stature, and promises nothing to one who merely scrambles to escape at any cost. Third, the phrase "hữu ngôn bất tín" is the most distinctive point of this hexagram.
Why, in hardship, is speech not believed?
In a time of Khốn, the speaker's credibility has already been damaged before the words are uttered. You are in a weak position, short of resources, carrying the reputation of failure, so listeners do not judge your words but your standing. The same sentence spoken by someone in prosperity is taken as insight, spoken by someone in hardship is taken as excuse. The I Ching does not advise you to speak more cleverly, nor to stay silent forever. The Judgment simply describes the mechanism and leaves the reader to draw the conduct: when words have lost their value, the only thing that can restore value is action, and action needs time.
The Image and the picture of a lake without water
Original: 澤無水，困。君子以致命遂志。 Sino-Vietnamese: Trạch vô thủy, Khốn. Quân tử dĩ trí mệnh toại chí.
Meaning: the lake has no water, that is the image of Khốn. The noble person accordingly risks even their life to fulfill their will.
There are two readings of "trí mệnh toại chí" and the books do not fully agree. The first reading, common in modern commentaries, takes "trí mệnh" as placing one's life in danger, accepting self-sacrifice if needed, so long as the will is achieved. The second reading leans toward "ủy mệnh", being at peace with circumstance, setting fate aside and devoting oneself to what one wants. Both lead to the same attitude: outwardly one may yield, inwardly one does not change direction. This article follows the first reading in translation and records the second so readers know where the schools differ.
Notably, the Image never advises filling the lake at once. It points to the image of depletion, then speaks of will. In other words, the phase of hardship is not designed to be resolved quickly, it is designed to test whether the will is still there or already lost.
The six line texts of hexagram Khốn and plain-language explanations
The six lines below are given in original Chinese and Sino-Vietnamese, with explanation. Note: some lines carry the social norms of antiquity, for example husband and wife, sacrifice, and the robes of rank. That is historical context for understanding the hexagram, not advice to apply directly to life today.
Sơ lục, line 1: Đồn khốn vu chu mộc, nhập vu u cốc, tam tuế bất địch
Original: 臀困于株木，入于幽谷，三歲不覿.
Meaning: the buttocks caught on a tree stump, entering a dark valley, three years seeing no one. This line sits at the lowest position of the hexagram, yin and yielding with no support. It is the scene of complete isolation: no helper, no visible way out, and the span "three years" is a figurative way of saying a long stretch. The line offers no solution, it only says this phase must be passed through, not jumped over.
Cửu nhị, line 2: Khốn vu tửu thực, chu phất phương lai, lợi dụng hưởng tự, chinh hung, vô cữu
Original: 困于酒食，朱紱方來，利用享祀，征凶，無咎.
Meaning: blocked in matters of food and drink, the red robe is about to arrive. Best used for sacrifice, going to battle is inauspicious, but no harm. This is hardship not from scarcity but, on the contrary, from abundance that still blocks. Opportunity is on the way but not yet in hand. The line advises keeping sincerity, doing small things, waiting for the time, and avoiding any large action now. The phrase "chinh hung" is a clear warning: striking early fails.
Lục tam, line 3: Khốn vu thạch, cứ vu tật lê, nhập vu kỳ cung, bất kiến kỳ thê, hung
Original: 困于石，據于蒺藜，入于其宮，不見其妻，凶.
Meaning: blocked by stone, leaning on thorns, returning home and not seeing the wife, inauspicious. This is the only line in the hexagram judged inauspicious without a way out. Three successive images all show choosing the wrong support: stone is hard and unmovable, thorns pierce the hand, the house is empty. The collection Tuyển tập bài viết Kinh Dịch chọn lọc số 16 stresses that this line describes a state of total decline, when every plan is stifled; it should be read as a warning about clinging to what should not be clung to, not as a curse.
Cửu tứ, line 4: Lai từ từ, khốn vu kim xa, lận, hữu chung
Original: 來徐徐，困于金車，吝，有終.
Meaning: arriving slowly, blocked by the golden carriage, regrettable but with an outcome. This line concerns one who wants to help but is himself blocked. The golden carriage is the image of means, of resources, which should carry one quickly but becomes the place of entanglement. The phrase "hữu chung" is the only bright point: the result will come, only late and with regret.
Cửu ngũ, line 5: Tị nguyệt, khốn vu xích phất, nãi từ hữu duyệt, lợi dụng tế tự
Original: 劓刖，困于赤紱，乃徐有說，利用祭祀.
Meaning: nose cut and feet cut, blocked in the red robe of rank, gradually there will be joy, best used for sacrifice. Nose-cutting and foot-cutting were ancient punishments, used here figuratively for restraint from many sides. This is the line of one in a high position without freedom of action. The word "từ" in "nãi từ hữu duyệt" means slow, gradual, and that is the whole message of the line: constraints will be loosened gradually, not at once.
Thượng lục, line 6: Khốn vu cát lũy, vu niết ngột, viết động hối. Hữu hối, chinh cát
Original: 困于葛藟，于臲卼，曰動悔。有悔，征吉.
Meaning: blocked by creeping vines, standing on shaky ground, thinking that moving brings regret. But having regret, going forward is auspicious. The last line places hardship more in the mind than in circumstance: the vines wrapping the feet are there because one stood too long in that spot, the shaky ground because one chose to stand there. The line reverses the fear: knowing regret, the step forward is auspicious, while standing still out of fear of regret means hardship never ends.
| Line | Name | Core image | Judgment in the line text |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sơ lục | Caught on a tree stump, lost in a dark valley, three years seeing no one | No auspice or inauspice stated, only the scene of isolation |
| 2 | Cửu nhị | Blocked in food and drink, the red robe about to arrive | Going to battle is inauspicious, but no harm |
| 3 | Lục tam | Stone blocks, thorns pierce, returning home not seeing the wife | Inauspicious, with no way out |
| 4 | Cửu tứ | Arriving slowly, stuck at the golden carriage | Regrettable, but with an outcome |
| 5 | Cửu ngũ | Punished, blocked in the red robe, gradually joyful | Best used for sacrifice, constraints loosen gradually |
| 6 | Thượng lục | Vines wrap, standing on shaky ground, fearing movement | Knowing regret, going forward is auspicious |
Reading hexagram Khốn across areas of life
This section presents how hexagram commentary sites commonly interpret, for reference, not as a certain forecast for anyone.
Love and relationships
Hexagram Khốn is often read as a phase when two people are still together but struggle to reach each other. The very phrase "hữu ngôn bất tín" in the Judgment makes this hexagram appear often in questions about misunderstanding. The more you explain, the more the other doubts, because at this time the listener judges by overall feeling, not by argument. The course many commentators propose is to reduce words and increase concrete actions.
Work and career
This is a time of scarce resources or scarce recognition, not a time to expand. Advice repeated across sources is to hold position, cut costs, and focus on what one controls. Line 4 with the phrase "hữu chung" shows the result still comes, only late.
Money
Hexagram suggests shrinking income or spending beyond income. The common reading is to tighten spending, avoid borrowing, and avoid risky investment in this phase. This describes the situation, not a promise about anyone's financial outcome.
Health and mind
The image of a drained lake is often linked to exhaustion, lack of rest, or mental collapse dragging the body down. Sources consistently stress prioritizing recovery over exertion. This part must be read with great care: the hexagram does not diagnose illness, and real health problems require a qualified professional.
Where books and schools disagree
First, the phrase "trí mệnh toại chí" in the Image is read in two directions as noted above, one leaning toward risking the self for the will, one leaning toward accepting circumstance to pursue the will. Readers should know both.
Second, hexagram numbering. Editions in the King Wen sequence all place Khốn at 47, but in the Bát Cung system of Kinh Phòng, Trạch Thủy Khốn is placed in the Đoài palace and carries a different ordinal within that palace. So when a document writes "hexagram Khốn number 22", it is usually numbering by another system, not a contradiction about the hexagram's content.
Third, how "inauspicious" the hexagram is. Some documents place Khốn in the group of inauspicious hexagrams; other readings stress the word "hanh" in the Judgment to argue Khốn is a time of trial with a way out, not a time of destruction. The difference lies in whether the emphasis falls on the image of depletion or on the promise of success.
The core lesson of Trạch Thủy Khốn
Hexagram Khốn does not teach how to escape quickly. It teaches how to hold oneself while escape is not yet possible. Four points can be drawn from the classic and image texts themselves, without addition:
- When resources are exhausted, the first thing to do is stop further depletion, not seek an explosion.
- When words have lost value, action is the only remaining channel, and action needs time before it can speak.
- What remains after hardship is not luck, but a will that has passed through trial.
- Fear of error to the point of standing still is another form of hardship, and the last line of the hexagram says so clearly: knowing regret, step forward.
The table below is a lookup table the site's tool prepares for this hexagram, listing the six line names, each line's position, and the resulting hexagram when each line moves, for quick cross-checking during interpretation.
Structure of Trạch Thủy Khốn in one table
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Ordinal in Chu Dịch | 47 |
| Chinese character name | 困 |
| Upper trigram | Đoài (Lake) |
| Lower trigram | Khảm (Water) |
| Six lines, top to bottom | yin, yang, yang, yin, yang, yin |
| Nuclear hexagram | Phong Hỏa Gia Nhân (hexagram 37) |
| Opposite hexagram | Sơn Hỏa Bí (hexagram 22) |
| Inverted hexagram | Thủy Phong Tỉnh (hexagram 48) |
Where do the six lines of Trạch Thủy Khốn sit, and which hexagram does each moving line produce?
The table reads from the first line (bottom) up to the top line. Line names combine position and nature: yang is called Cửu, yin is called Lục. The last column is the resulting hexagram when ONLY that line moves, calculated by the same method the Nhật Nguyệt casting tool uses.
| Line | Name | Nature | Correct position | Centered | Correspondence | Moving produces |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sơ Lục | yin | no | no | with line 4, corresponding | Thuần Đoài (hexagram 58) |
| 2 | Cửu Nhị | yang | no | yes | with line 5, not corresponding | Trạch Địa Tụy (hexagram 45) |
| 3 | Lục Tam | yin | no | no | with line 6, not corresponding | Trạch Phong Đại Quá (hexagram 28) |
| 4 | Cửu Tứ | yang | no | no | with line 1, corresponding | Thuần Khảm (hexagram 29) |
| 5 | Cửu Ngũ | yang | yes | yes | with line 2, not corresponding | Lôi Thủy Giải (hexagram 40) |
| 6 | Thượng Lục | yin | yes | no | with line 3, not corresponding | Thiên Thủy Tụng (hexagram 6) |
