# Hexagram 48: The Well

Canonical page: https://thefreeiching.com/library/48
Last updated: 2026-10-07

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

- **Upper trigram:** [Kan 坎](https://thefreeiching.com/trigrams/kan), Water, the abysmal, danger
- **Lower trigram:** [Xun 巽](https://thefreeiching.com/trigrams/xun), Wind, the gentle, penetrating
- **Lines, bottom to top:** 011010 (1 = solid yang, 0 = broken yin)

## Contemporary judgment

The well. The well serves all who come to it, but only if it is kept. A neglected well fails in the hour of thirst. Tend your sources of nourishment: your health, your practices, your relationships, your learning. What nourishes you enables you to nourish others.

## Image

Wood drawing water upward. The superior person encourages the people in their work and exhorts them to help one another.

## Counsel

Examine the wells you draw from daily. Are any running dry? Are any being polluted? Maintain what nourishes you rather than assuming it will always be there. Share your own well freely with those who come in sincerity; the act of giving, from a kept source, does not deplete it.

## 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:
> One does not drink the mud of the well:
> to an old well no animals come.

### Line 2

> A nine in the second place means:
> At the well-hole one shoots fish.
> The jug is broken and leaks.

### Line 3

> A nine in the third place means:
> The well is cleaned, but no one drinks from it.
> This is my heart's sorrow;
> for one could draw from it.
> If the king were clear, one would share the good fortune.

### Line 4

> A six in the fourth place means:
> The well is lined with stones, no blame.

### Line 5

> A nine in the fifth place means:
> In the well is a clear, cool spring from which one can drink.

### Line 6

> A six at the top means:
> One draws from the well without hindrance.
> It is reliable. Sublime good fortune!

## Related hexagrams

- **Nuclear (lines 2 to 5):** [38 Opposition](https://thefreeiching.com/library/38)
- **Inverse (turned upside down):** [47 Oppression](https://thefreeiching.com/library/47)
- **Opposite (every line flipped):** [21 Biting Through](https://thefreeiching.com/library/21)

## If one line changes

| Changing line | Relating hexagram |
| --- | --- |
| Line 1 | [5 Waiting](https://thefreeiching.com/library/5) |
| Line 2 | [39 Obstruction](https://thefreeiching.com/library/39) |
| Line 3 | [29 The Abysmal](https://thefreeiching.com/library/29) |
| Line 4 | [28 Great Preponderance](https://thefreeiching.com/library/28) |
| Line 5 | [46 Pushing Upward](https://thefreeiching.com/library/46) |
| Line 6 | [57 The Gentle](https://thefreeiching.com/library/57) |

Previous: [47 Oppression](https://thefreeiching.com/library/47). Next: [49 Revolution](https://thefreeiching.com/library/49). [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 48: The Well." https://thefreeiching.com/library/48 (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/48). The I Ching is a tool for reflection, not a prediction. Nothing here forecasts events or replaces professional advice.