Obstruction — an impassable barrier standing in the way.
You face an obstacle that cannot be forced. Pause, turn inward, and seek allies rather than pushing on alone. Retreating to regroup is itself the way through.
obstructiondifficultyreflectionallies
Obstruction places Water (abysmal, dangerous) above Mountain (still, resting). The interplay of these two trigrams gives the hexagram its character.
The Classical Textoriginal Chinese
The Judgment · 卦辞
利西南，不利东北；利见大人，贞吉。
The Image · 大象
山上有水，蹇；君子以反身修德。
The Six Lines · 爻辞
- 初六往蹇，来誉。象曰：往蹇来誉，宜待也。
- 六二王臣蹇蹇，匪躬之故。象曰：王臣蹇蹇，终无尤也。
- 九三往蹇来反。象曰：往蹇来反，内喜之也。
- 六四往蹇来连。象曰：往蹇来连，当位实也。
- 九五大蹇朋来。象曰：大蹇朋来，以中节也。
- 上六往蹇来硕，吉；利见大人。象曰：往蹇来硕，志在内也。利见大人，以从贵也。
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.