EN (English)
䷦
Hexagram 39 of 64
Obstruction
蹇 · Jiǎn
Danger above and a mountain below: an obstacle in front and a hazard beyond it. The classic's hexagram of being properly stuck, and its answer is unexpected.
obstruction
difficulty
self-examination
allies
- King Wen number
- 39 of 64
- Above
- ☵ Kǎn · Water
- Below
- ☶ Gèn · Mountain
- Composition
- Water over Mountain
- Lines, bottom to top
- Broken · broken · solid · broken · solid · broken
- Chinese
- 蹇 · Jiǎn
The Judgment
The southwest rewards; the northeast does not. It helps to see the great person. Steadfastness brings good fortune.
The southwest is the direction of the receptive and of level ground. Under obstruction, go toward the easy country and the people in it.
The Image
Water on the mountain: Obstruction. So the noble person turns back on themselves and works on their character.
The whole remedy, and it faces inward. When the way forward is blocked, the book redirects the effort to the one place still available.
What it means
Jian is water sitting on top of a mountain: a barrier to climb, and a hazard waiting on the other side. The hexagram is what being genuinely stuck looks like, and its structure is unusual. Five of the six lines say the same thing.
Going leads to obstruction; coming back leads to something better. The classic repeats it with small variations until the point is unmissable. Forward is not available. What changes across the lines is what you find when you return: praise, then union, then friends arriving at the worst moment, then great good fortune.
The Image supplies the reason. When the way ahead is blocked, the noble person turns back on themselves and works on their own character. This is the book's most direct statement that an external obstruction is an occasion for internal work, and it is offered as a practical measure, not a consolation.
The second line is the humane one. The king's servant meets obstruction after obstruction, and it is not his fault. The classic pauses in the middle of a hexagram about difficulty to say that some difficulty is not a judgement on the person having it.
In a reading
Obstruction as an answer says the way forward is blocked and pressing on will not clear it.
The counsel is to turn back, work on your own position and capability, and seek out people and easier ground rather than pushing at the barrier. The hexagram is not pessimistic. Every line that returns finds something, and the help specifically arrives at the hardest point.
The six lines
Read a line's text only when the cast made it a moving line. They are listed from the top of the figure down, the way the hexagram is drawn.
-
Six at the top
Going leads into obstruction; coming back brings great good fortune. It helps to see the great person.
The last return, and the largest reward. The way through was always backward and inward.
-
Nine in the fifth place
In the midst of the greatest obstruction, friends come.
The ruling line. The help arrives at the worst point rather than after it.
-
Six in the fourth place
Going leads into obstruction; coming back leads to union.
The return produces company. Each time you turn back you find more people already there.
-
Nine in the third place
Going leads into obstruction, so he comes back.
The same movement, now taken without comment. Turning back becomes routine.
-
Six in the second place
The king's servant meets obstruction upon obstruction, and it is not through any fault of his own.
Difficulty in the line of duty. The text is careful to remove the blame.
-
Six at the beginning
Going leads into obstruction; coming back brings praise.
The pattern the hexagram repeats five times, stated first and simplest.
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