Oppression — exhaustion and confinement, resources drained.
You feel hemmed in, depleted, and unheard. Keep inner cheer and integrity though outwardly constrained; words persuade no one now, so act through being rather than speaking. The way out is endured, not forced.
adversityexhaustionenduranceintegrity
Oppression places Lake (joyous, open) above Water (abysmal, dangerous). The interplay of these two trigrams gives the hexagram its character.
The Classical Textoriginal Chinese
The Judgment · 卦辞
亨，贞，大人吉，无咎，有言不信。
The Image · 大象
泽无水，困；君子以致命遂志。
The Six Lines · 爻辞
- 初六臀困于株木，入于幽谷，三岁不觌。象曰：入于幽谷，幽不明也。
- 九二困于酒食，朱绂方来，利用享祀，征凶，无咎。象曰：困于酒食，中有庆也。
- 六三困于石，据于蒺藜，入于其宫，不见其妻，凶。象曰：据于蒺藜，乘刚也。入于其宫，不见其妻，不祥也。
- 九四来徐徐，困于金车，吝，有终。象曰：来徐徐，志在下也。虽不当位，有与也。
- 九五劓刖，困于赤绂，乃徐有说，利用祭祀。象曰：劓刖，志未得也。乃徐有说，以中直也。
- 上六困于葛藟，于臲卼，曰动悔。有悔，征吉。象曰：困于葛藟，未当也。动悔有悔，吉行也。
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.