The I Ching, Legge tr.

The I Ching, Legge tr.: Text Section II: XLVII. The Khw&#...

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This is a classical Chinese divinatory text — hexagram 47 (Khwăn/困, "Oppression" or "Exhaustion") from the *I Ching* (Book of Changes), presented alongside traditional commentary. The hexagram's core meaning is constraint and distress: good principles and capable people are suppressed, much as a plant cannot spread its branches inside an enclosure. Each of the six individual line readings describes a different figure in a state of straitening — ranging from a man sitting on a bare stump to one bound at a dangerous height — with outcomes ranging from prolonged suffering to eventual fortune through repentance or sincerity. A notable interpretive thread runs through the commentary: the suffering described is not material but principled — the "superior men" represented by the strong lines are distressed because their virtues cannot find expression, not because they lack food or status. The commentary, drawing on the Khang-hsî editors and Confucian tradition, consistently emphasizes that action without inner sincerity worsens one's straits, while quiet cultivation and sacrifice-like integrity eventually bring relief. The text would interest readers of classical Chinese philosophy, I Ching scholarship, or anyone exploring how ancient divination systems encode ethical and political philosophy within symbolic imagery.

The I Ching, Legge tr.: Text Section II: XLVII. The Khw&#...

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