蹇
GUA 39 · JIAN
IMPASSE
Overall Image (大象)
Over the mountain is water
Impasse
The noble young one, accordingly,
turns bodily around to work on character▼
Overall Image (大象)
Over the mountain is water
Impasse
The noble young one, accordingly,
turns bodily around to work on character
Storms drench the highlands. The mountain pass is closed and all plans to cross it are a washout today. Predictability fails. This day’s journey is over by noon. There is no problem to solve here, unless it’s how best to give up going forward for now, or how and where best to weather this storm. Progress depends on retracing the last few steps. Dead ends will permit some rethinking, as the journey replaces the goal. The last thing you may want to hear now is that this will help you build character, but you have extra energy now and you do need to broaden your old frame of mind. There isn’t a reason why this has happened to you, so make one up back at the inn.
Main Judgment (Impasse) (卦辞)
Worthwhile west to south
Not worthwhile east to north
Rewarding to encounter a mature human being
Persistence is opportune▼
Main Judgment (Impasse) (卦辞)
Worthwhile west to south
Not worthwhile east to north
Rewarding to encounter a mature human being
Persistence is opportune
If the way you go is not the wrong way, then at least it is at the wrong time. Ahead, things are cold and wet, dangerous, lonely and steep. You might still need to travel northeast, but first the detour will take you southwest, maybe straight back to those moderate midlands and the inn that you recently passed when still on the way to bad news. It might be that the sage is already there, with his outlook already improving and having a truly great time. This is only a drawback in one direction. It is going forward in others. You could now make some personal progress, unless of course there are storms there as well, like grumbling or whining emotional storms. Then you’d really be stuck here. Going into trouble is not forward progress, even if once you thought that direction was forth. Minds are just made to be changed, and most of the roads around here can be traveled both ways. Sometimes even humankind’s next great steps forward will be in a backwards direction. And sometimes remaking ourselves to fit the places we come to beats remaking those places to suit what we think we want. Character work is more fruitful than changing the climate or weather.
Key Words (关键词)
Impediment, delay, detour, complication, inconvenience, drawback, immobility▼
Key Words (关键词)
Impediment, delay, detour, complication, inconvenience, drawback, immobility
Hindrance, holdup, barrier, obstruction, obstacle, interruption, discouragement Discontent, stationary period; convoluted route, reorientation; options narrowing A closed mountain pass, waiting out the storm; lowering expectations and goals Redefine goals for achievability; detoured but not deterred; ability to compensate Knowing when to stop, consolidate progress to date, rethink directions and plans
Structure & Connections
Structure Class
Gen-Dui Family
This classification indicates the hexagram's role in the 12 Sovereign Cycle (Earthly Branches) or its structural family.
Astrology
note:Jupiter in Water
planet:Jupiter
element:Water
Tarot
card:Four of Cups
suit:Cups
Qabalah
note:Chesed in Briah
sphere:Chesed
The Lines
11st • YangIf going is impassable
Then coming back is respectable▼
1
1st • YangIf going is impassable
Then coming back is respectable
39.1x (If) going (is) impassable (then) coming back
(is) respectable:
(It is) reasonable to wait
Who calls it a shameful or embarrassing thing to change your mind and your plans? The smarter one of a pair takes note of the dark clouds over the pass and elects to sit by the bridge, cooling his tired feet and wiggling his toes in the water, attending the rhythm of things, consolidating his progress so far. His partner presses on into the foothills, but there finds himself surrounded on one huge side. This is not a gauntlet or challenge: if it’s you in motion towards trouble, then where is blame to be placed? By evening he catches up with his partner, all the way back at the bridge, having now gone twice the distance for nothing, while his partner got so far ahead here simply by lagging behind. If this direction leads nowhere, then why not go nowhere as well, saving effort? Home is where the feet are: advance for its own sake won’t get there.
22nd • YangThe sovereign’s minister is set back and interrupted
But this is not one person’s cause▼
2
2nd • YangThe sovereign’s minister is set back and interrupted
But this is not one person’s cause
39.2x The sovereign’s minister (is) set back (and) interrupted:
In the end there is no reproach
Some of these crazy things that he does in his work for the king, had he decided to do them himself, would make him seem pretty foolish. When the mountain’s pass is closed, the servant goes up into the storm and tries to open it up. When the bard tells the king of a magical stone on top of the land’s highest peak, the servant gets orders for a mid-winter climb through the snow. The king may have no idea what he puts this poor fellow through. At least he gets to use the king’s gear. This isn’t a question of judgment at all, although serving a greater cause should nevertheless still spare you for some future use, else the greater good was just bad and a waste. With little credit for the successes and little blame for failures, he takes what he can from the work. The king owns the mountain in theory, the servant owns it in fact.
33rd • YangIf going is impassable
Then coming back means turning around▼
3
3rd • YangIf going is impassable
Then coming back means turning around
39.3x (If) going (is) impassable (then) coming back
(means) turning around:
(Those) within rejoice in this
Up close to the ridge he finds problems, a difficult pass and clouds getting darker. It looks like a good adventure and he has both health and courage. But this is why he was chosen to scout. Those who follow are not bold types, but they do have their various merits. And so he retreats with his latest perspectives, looking less foolish by walking back forwards, having traveled this distance twice without any progress or blame. This was not some cosmic purpose. To act differently on new information is not vacillation. You just turn around and go in the new kind of forward, make the two left turns, and whatever was holding you back now helps you forward. Retreat saves more than himself. He subordinates an objective to gain a successful outcome. How linear it is to be stuck in just one direction: that’s a flunked intelligence test.
44th • YangIf going is impassable
Then coming back means alliance▼
4
4th • YangIf going is impassable
Then coming back means alliance
39.4x (If) going (is) impassable (then) coming back
(means) alliance:
The appropriate position (is in) reality
The frustrated traveler has fallen back to regroup in the tavern, to join with the others in similar straits. And soon there is talk about forming a new expedition. When one cannot make it alone, when every step forward means being taken two steps aback, the only personal failure might be one of breadth, and not strength. And so the new support group puts its partly experienced minds all together to assemble the better plan. In aggregate they will have no more strength than before. But in specializing they make better use of each other, with new connections and contacts, new ropes and strings to pull. A guide will do what a brute cannot, a cook can spare them all some bad meals and a medic can care for the wounded. One can hope too that there is a genius among them, to say it is better to wait until after this storm has passed.
55th • YangAt a major impasse
Companions appear▼
5
5th • YangAt a major impasse
Companions appear
39.5x (At a) major impasse, companions appear:
Because the center (is) defined
In the midst of the greatest obstructions, when the large and real problems cannot be avoided, some of your most average people do some impressive things: they rise up to equal their challenges and some will even help some perfect stranger in trouble. Now here is one amazing coincidence: every single ancestor of every one of these heroes survived their trials of life, and even their teenage years, at least long enough to have offspring. As soon as survival is threatened the body will awaken old skills. Then comes the warrior into the fray, taking this threat by the throat. Friends and onlookers follow, wielding shovels and stones. What emerges in our emergencies are humans at their best. Even misanthropes are impressed as people pull together. But do these defining moments define who we are, or merely who our friends are?
6Top • YangIf going is impassable
Then coming back means maturity
Promising
Rewarding to encounter a mature human being▼
6
Top • YangIf going is impassable
Then coming back means maturity
Promising
Rewarding to encounter a mature human being
39.6x (If) going (is) impassable (then) coming back
(means) maturity:
The purpose lies within
* Rewarding to encounter a mature human being:
Thereby to attend to the worthy
He has already gone through the worst of the trouble. He commits himself now to his years of reflection and wanders the forested mountains in peace, while thinking the walls of the city to be a part of his past. But far beyond the gates, he discovers impending trouble, coming for those he left far behind. Girding his loins with his anchorite’s robe, he shows some impressive speed for such an old, gentle fellow. It is perfectly understandable that some will choose to just go, while some will opt to keep their compassionate vigils until the very last blade of grass is enlightened. Some scout in the larger sense: they still must go beyond, to know what is open or closed and to see where we’re going together. For such a service, freedom like this ought to go unquestioned. How the society treats them says much about its future.
Reference in Original Text & Resources
This content is derived from Bradford Hatcher's THE BOOK OF CHANGES: Yijing, Word By Word.
Original text for Hexagram 39 begins on Page 294-302.
Help improve this resource
Spot a typo or have a suggestion? We'd love to hear from you.