初
初六。井泥不食。舊井无禽。
Well full of mud—undrinkable. Old well has no game. Neglect leaves it useless.
䷯
Hexagram 48
The Well (水風井)
Suifū-sei / Jǐng
The communal well—resource that endures when maintained. Repair and draw clean water.
Judgment
井。改邑不改井、无喪无得。往來井井。汔至、亦未繘井、羸其瓶、凶。
The well. Changing the city, not changing the well. Neither loss nor gain. People come and go drawing from it. Almost reaches, yet not rope to the well, bucket broken—misfortune.
Fundamental resources persist; maintain them well or efforts are wasted.
Line-by-Line (Yao)
Interpretations if the line changes.
二
九二。井谷射鮒、瓮敝漏。
From the well’s hollow you shoot minnows; the jar is cracked and leaks. Poor tools waste effort.
三
九三。井渫不食、為我心惻。可用汲、王明、并受其福。
Well cleaned yet not used; my heart aches. It could draw water—when a wise king appears, blessings shared.
四
六四。井甃无咎。
The well is lined—no blame. Structure maintained.
五
九五。井洌寒泉食。
Clear cold spring—fit to drink. Excellent resource.
上
上。井收勿幕。有孚元吉。
Well covered—do not seal it. With sincerity, great fortune. Keep it open for all.
Practical Reading: Love, Career, Health & Decisions
When you cast Hexagram 48, Jǐng (The Well), the Book of Changes shows you a situation with Kan (Water) above and Xun (Wind) below. The communal well—resource that endures when maintained. Repair and draw clean water. Use the cards below to map that pattern onto your specific question — a love reading, a career decision, a health concern, or a yes/no choice.
Love & Relationships
Nurture the shared source of the relationship; repair what draws water. In a love or relationship reading, Hexagram 48 (Jǐng) describes the meeting point of Kan (water) above and Xun (wind) below: how the outer situation meets your inner state. Ask whether you are forcing the relationship to fit a picture, or letting it move at the rhythm this hexagram suggests. For a partnered question, read the changing lines to see which side — yours or the other person's — is being asked to shift.
Work & Career
Invest in core infrastructure and skills; neglect wastes effort. In work and career, Jǐng points to whether the outer market or workplace (Kan (water)) and your inner stance (Xun (wind)) are in alignment. If a project, negotiation, or job change is the question, ask what this hexagram says about timing rather than effort: pushing harder rarely changes a Jǐng situation; reading the configuration usually does.
Health & Wellbeing
Return to fundamentals of health; maintain the source. For a body or wellness reading, treat the lines of Hexagram 48 as descriptions of phases, not diagnoses. Jǐng usually signals where energy needs to be conserved versus where it is asking to be expressed. Combine the hexagram's advice with concrete medical guidance — the I Ching is a reflective tool, not a substitute for professional care.
Decision-Making
When the question is a yes/no — should I take the offer, move, leave, commit? — read Hexagram 48 (Jǐng, The Well) as a statement about the configuration of your situation rather than the outcome. The summary "The communal well—resource that endures when maintained. Repair and draw clean water." is your starting frame. Ask: does this action respect that configuration, or fight it? Changing lines, if any, tell you which specific aspect needs to bend.
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