Hexagram 29: The Abysmal Water坎為水 · Kǎn

• Upper trigram　Kǎn, Water: danger, flow and keeping faith through difficulty.
• Lower trigram　Kǎn, Water: danger, flow and keeping faith through difficulty.

The Judgment

Danger upon danger. With sincerity, the heart finds its way through, and action brings honour.

習坎，有孚，維心亨，行有尚。

Our plain English rendering, with the Zhouyi original

Reading

Water flows on through danger after danger: keeping faith in the midst of difficulty. Today suits meeting challenges calmly, moving forward steadily like water, and keeping your heart settled.

Something to do today

• For something difficult, break it into the smallest step and finish that.

How a hexagram is cast

The three-coin method: toss three coins together, counting heads as 3 and tails as 2. The total, 6, 7, 8 or 9, gives one line; six tosses, recorded from the bottom up, make a hexagram. A 6 (old yin) or 9 (old yang) is a changing line, which turns this hexagram into another and shows where things are heading.