# Hexagram 29: The Abysmal

Canonical page: https://thefreeiching.com/library/29
Last updated: 2026-10-07

```
━━━  ━━━
━━━━━━━
━━━  ━━━
━━━  ━━━
━━━━━━━
━━━  ━━━
```

- **Upper trigram:** [Kan 坎](https://thefreeiching.com/trigrams/kan), Water, the abysmal, danger
- **Lower trigram:** [Kan 坎](https://thefreeiching.com/trigrams/kan), Water, the abysmal, danger
- **Lines, bottom to top:** 010010 (1 = solid yang, 0 = broken yin)

## Contemporary judgment

Danger. The abysmal, repeated. You are passing through a genuinely difficult stretch. The way out is not cleverness or force but consistency: the water's ability to flow through the darkest places without losing its nature. Hold to your truth, and keep moving.

## Image

Water flowing on, ceaseless. The superior person walks in enduring virtue and pursues the work of teaching.

## Counsel

Do not panic, and do not pretend the situation is less serious than it is. Move carefully, honor your commitments, keep your word. What saves you here is not a single heroic act but the accumulated trust that comes from behaving well over time. The narrow passage will open again.

## The six lines

*Numbered from the bottom upward. These line texts are read when that line is changing in a cast.*

### Line 1

> A six at the beginning means:
> Repetition of the Abysmal.
> In the abyss one falls into a pit. Misfortune.

### Line 2

> A nine in the second place means:
> The abyss has danger.
> One should strive to attain only small things.

### Line 3

> A six in the third place means:
> Forward and backward, abyss on abyss.
> In such danger, pause at first;
> otherwise you will fall into a pit in the abyss.
> Do not act so.

### Line 4

> A six in the fourth place means:
> A jug of wine, a dish of rice as an addition, earthenware,
> simply handed in through the window.
> That is in no way a blame.

### Line 5

> A nine in the fifth place means:
> The abyss is not overflowing;
> it is only filled up to the rim.
> No blame.

### Line 6

> A six at the top means:
> Bound with cords and ropes,
> shut in between thorny prison walls;
> for three years one does not find one's way.
> Misfortune!

## Related hexagrams

- **Nuclear (lines 2 to 5):** [27 Nourishment](https://thefreeiching.com/library/27)
- **Inverse (turned upside down):** itself
- **Opposite (every line flipped):** [30 The Clinging](https://thefreeiching.com/library/30)

## If one line changes

| Changing line | Relating hexagram |
| --- | --- |
| Line 1 | [60 Limitation](https://thefreeiching.com/library/60) |
| Line 2 | [8 Holding Together](https://thefreeiching.com/library/8) |
| Line 3 | [48 The Well](https://thefreeiching.com/library/48) |
| Line 4 | [47 Oppression](https://thefreeiching.com/library/47) |
| Line 5 | [7 The Army](https://thefreeiching.com/library/7) |
| Line 6 | [59 Dispersion](https://thefreeiching.com/library/59) |

Previous: [28 Great Preponderance](https://thefreeiching.com/library/28). Next: [30 The Clinging](https://thefreeiching.com/library/30). [All sixty-four hexagrams](https://thefreeiching.com/library).

*The judgment, image and counsel are original contemporary paraphrases written for The Free I Ching. The line text is the CC0 translation from [jesshewitt/i-ching](https://github.com/jesshewitt/i-ching), derived from Richard Wilhelm's 1924 German edition.*

## Cite this page

The Free I Ching. "Hexagram 29: The Abysmal." https://thefreeiching.com/library/29 (updated 2026-10-07).

*The I Ching is a tool for reflection, not a prediction. Nothing here forecasts events or replaces professional advice. Short quotations with a link back are welcome. Please do not republish a page in full. The open data files at [/data](https://thefreeiching.com/data) are licensed CC BY 4.0.*

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Source: The Free I Ching (https://thefreeiching.com/library/29). The I Ching is a tool for reflection, not a prediction. Nothing here forecasts events or replaces professional advice.