The abysmal — doubled danger, water plunging through the depths.
Repeated peril surrounds you, and safety lies in sincerity and steadiness. Like water, keep flowing and stay true to your course through the gorge. Danger mastered becomes mastery.
dangerperseverancesinceritydepth
The Abysmal (Water) places Water (abysmal, dangerous) above Water (abysmal, dangerous). The interplay of these two trigrams gives the hexagram its character.
The Classical Textoriginal Chinese
The Judgment · 卦辞
习坎，有孚，维心亨，行有尚。
The Image · 大象
水洊至，习坎；君子以常德行，习教事。
The Six Lines · 爻辞
- 初六习坎，入于坎窞，凶。象曰：习坎入坎，失道凶也。
- 九二坎有险，求小得。象曰：求小得，未出中也。
- 六三来之坎坎，险且枕，入于坎窞，勿用。象曰：来之坎坎，终无功也。
- 六四樽酒簋贰，用缶，纳约自牖，终无咎。象曰：樽酒簋贰，刚柔际也。
- 九五坎不盈，只既平，无咎。象曰：坎不盈，中未大也。
- 上六系用徽纆，置于丛棘，三岁不得，凶。象曰：上六失道，凶三岁也。
The judgment, image and line texts above are quoted from the original Zhou Yi. A modern Chinese translation of the full classic is available on the original-text page.