A lake with its water drained away: a hexagram of being hemmed in, where the person is trapped but the way can still go through for those who stay correct.
Dui ☱, lake, joyful, lies above Kan ☵, water, sinking and perilous: the water has drained out of the lake into the depths below. Zhu Xi reads the name as being worn down and unable to lift oneself, with every strong line covered by yin. Because danger meets joy, though, a person can be hemmed in while the way still goes through, something he says only the great person manages.
Judgment (卦辭)
The text attached to the whole hexagram, read when no line is changing.
困，亨，貞，大人吉，无咎。有言不信。
Kun: success. Correct and firm, the great person has good fortune; no blame. There are words, but they are not believed.
Zhu Xi explains the name as being worn down and unable to lift oneself. Every strong line is covered: the water trigram lies beneath the lake's soft top, the second line is boxed in by yin, and the fourth and fifth sit under the yin at the top. Yet danger below meets joy above, so a person can be hemmed in while the way still goes through. That takes the great person, he says, seen in the strong, central second and fifth lines; the petty person who is not upright cannot meet it. As for words not believed, silence serves better than talk in such a time.
Image (大象)
The Image commentary (象傳) reads the whole hexagram from its two trigrams.
澤无水，困。君子以致命遂志。
The lake has no water: Hemmed In. The noble person offers up his life and carries his purpose through.
The water has drained down out of the lake through the bottom, leaving it dry. Zhu Xi glosses the noble person's response as handing one's life over, holding it out as something not one's own to keep. Whoever can let go to that degree, he says, comes through even when hemmed in.
Lines (爻辭)
From the bottom line to the top. In the line names, nine (九) marks a yang line and six (六) a yin line.
Line 1, yin (初六)changing line in the shared reading
臀困于株木，入于幽谷，三歲不覿。
The rump is trapped on a tree stump. It enters a dark valley and is not seen for three years.
The first line (初六) is at the very bottom, and Zhu Xi notes that the rump is the lowest part of a thing, which is why it stands for this line. Sitting on a bare stump hurts and gives no rest, and the line goes down into a dark valley, out of sight for three years. Weak and in the deepest darkness, it sits at the very bottom of the confinement.
Line 2, yang (九二)changing line in the shared reading
困于酒食，朱紱方來，利用亨祀，征凶，无咎。
Hemmed in by wine and food. The red sash is just arriving. It is favorable to make offerings and sacrifices. Setting out brings misfortune. No blame.
Food and wine are what people want, yet the second line (九二) is hemmed in by too much of them, Zhu Xi says, weighed down by surfeit. Its strong, central character keeps real harm away, and the red sash of honor is coming from the one above who answers it. The text favors offerings and sacrifice. Setting out is untimely, hence misfortune, though in terms of what is right it carries no blame. Even plenty can become a kind of confinement.
Line 3, yin (六三)changing line in the shared reading
困于石，據于蒺藜，入于其宮，不見其妻，凶。
Hemmed in by a rock, leaning on thorny caltrop. Entering the house, it does not see its wife. Misfortune.
Zhu Xi maps the picture onto the figure: the rock ahead is the fourth line, the thorns it leans on are the second, the house is the third line's own place, and the wife it cannot find is the top line, another yin that gives no answer. The third line (六三) is weak, off center and out of place, blocked in front and pricked behind. For the full meaning he refers readers to the Great Commentary (Xici).
Line 4, yang (九四)changing line in the shared reading
來徐徐，困于金車，吝，有終。
It comes slowly, slowly, hemmed in by a metal carriage. Humiliation, but it reaches its end.
The fourth line (九四) is the natural partner of the first, which is stuck at the bottom behind the second line. Out of its proper place, the fourth cannot help quickly, so it comes slowly, slowly. Zhu Xi takes the metal carriage to be the second line, while admitting the image is unclear; perhaps, he guesses, the water trigram suggests wheels. The delay is shameful, but the crooked cannot defeat the right, so the matter reaches its end.
Line 5, yang (九五)changing line in the shared reading
劓刖，困于赤紱，乃徐有說，利用祭祀。
Nose cut, feet cut, hemmed in by the red sash. Slowly, then, there is joy. It is favorable to make sacrifices.
The fifth line (九五), the ruler, is hurt from above and below: covered by the yin line at the top and riding on a strong line beneath. With those below injured, Zhu Xi says, even the red sash of office has no use and becomes one more burden. Yet the line is strong and central and belongs to the joyful lake trigram, so relief comes, though slowly. Sacrifice is favored, and in time, he says, blessing follows.
Top line, yin (上六)changing line in the shared reading
困于葛藟，于臲卼，曰動悔。有悔，征吉。
Hemmed in by creeping vines, teetering and unsteady. It says, 'Moving will bring regret.' If there is regret, setting out brings good fortune.
At the top line (上六) the hardship is at its peak: tangled in vines, perched somewhere unsteady, and telling itself that any move will only bring regret. Zhu Xi turns this around. When things reach their limit, they change; if the line can truly feel regret, it can set out and find good fortune. The fear of moving is the last thing holding it in.
If you drew this hexagram
Which text to read depends on how many lines are changing. With none, read the judgment; with one, read that line; with more, follow Zhu Xi's rules in the Yixue qimeng.
Text: Zhu Xi, Yuanben Zhouyi benyi (原本周易本義), Siku Quanshu Wenyuange copy, as transcribed by the Kanseki Repository (KR1a0031), corrected and punctuated by K-magpie. Translation and explanation: written by AI (Claude) from Zhu Xi's commentary and checked against the text and commentary. Sources and the list of corrections are on the Today's Hexagram page.