Hexagram 47
Running On Empty
kùn
Reading it as a decision
The lake here has no water in it — what should be full has run dry, drained down into the danger sitting just beneath it. It's the classical image of resources depleted and support scarce, a genuinely hard stretch rather than a manageable inconvenience. The judgment holds out real success for someone who stays principled through it, but adds a pointed warning: right now, talk isn't going to land the way it normally would, no matter how true it is.
The read favors moving on from whatever position put you here rather than digging in and trying to argue your way out — persuasion is specifically the tool that won't work in this window. Classical line texts lean cautionary throughout, consistent with a hexagram about a real shortage rather than a temporary rough patch.
The classical text
Judgment (卦辭)
困，亨，貞大人吉，無咎。有言不信。
Exhaustion can still lead to success; the steadfast great person finds fortune and no blame, though words spoken now go unbelieved.
The six lines (爻辭)
初六：臀困于株木，入于幽谷，三歲不見。
Trapped sitting on a bare tree stump, one enters a dark ravine and goes unseen for three years.
九二：困于酒食，朱紱方來，利用亨祀，征凶，無咎。
Weighed down by abundant food and drink as scarlet court-robes approach; good for making offerings, but marching out brings misfortune, no blame.
六三：困于石，據于蒺藜，入于其宮，不見其妻，凶。
Trapped against a rock, propped on thorny brambles, then entering one's own home to find the wife gone; misfortune.
九四：來徐徐，困于金車，吝，有終。
Arriving slowly, held back by a heavy bronze chariot; there is regret, yet it ends well.
九五：劓刖，困于赤紱，乃徐有說，利用祭祀。
Mutilated and constrained even in fine red robes, relief comes only slowly; good for making sacrifice.
上六：困于葛藟，于臲卼，曰動悔，有悔，征吉。
Tangled in vines, unsteady on shaky ground, feeling every move stirs regret, yet pressing forward brings fortune.
This is a general reference, not a live reading — it doesn't know your situation. iYarrow casts a fresh hexagram for the actual question you're weighing.
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