I'm a little bit fond of this particular (somewhat ominous) hexagram, because when I tossed the coins while in the process of adopting Daughter, lo, these three years ago, this was one of the two hexagrams that came up. I liked the fact that it has the (corny, old) connotation of "a journey over water." It's one of eight hexagrams made by doubling a trigram -- in this case, it's double-water, or more specifically, double-quickly running-water, like a rapid carving its way through a rugged ravine.

It's linked to the concept of the West, which is, hey, where I live. It's also linked to the moon, and carries much of the same symbolism the moon does in European tradition -- dark, moist, eerie, inspirational, maddening.

But for the Chinese sages, this was just something to deal with. Wilhelm sums it up nicely:

The name of the hexagram, because the trigram is doubled, has the additional meaning, "repetition of danger. " Thus the hexagram is intended to designate an objective situation to which one must become accustomed, not a subjective attitude.

What's the character mean?
The character for Kan is made of the character for "earth" on the left, and on the right, a person with one foot up, stepping into a pit. If you'd like a Western equivalent, look at the tarot card for The Fool -- there it is. Stop, fool! You're going over the edge! Huang says this pictogram describes a situation of falling but not drowning. Presumably, you're also not bouncing off the cliff walls on the way down.

What's on the top & bottom?
Same trigram, kan, the dangerous, watery, westerly moon.

What's in the guts?
The nuclear trigrams are gen, the steadfast mountain, over zhen, the twisty thunder. In the natural order of things, the thunder is supposed be booming over the mountain, so I can't help but read this as turbulent and unstable deep inside.

What's it from far away?
The Judgement and Image verses are both surprisingly encouraging, considering all the danger implied by this deep, dark gorge. The Judgement says:

If you are sincere, you have success in your heart,
And whatever you do succeeds

, and the Image cheers us on with:

Water flows on uninterruptedly and reaches its goal:
The image of the Abysmal repeated.
Thus the superior man walks in lasting virtue
And carries on the business of teaching.

In other words, walk on, walk onnn, with hooope in yourrr heeeaaarrrt, and you'll neeevvvveeeerrrrr wallllk aloooooooooone! Ahem. Yes. Keep going, keep going.

What's it saying up close?
The Lines verses depict various iterations of that Fool picture Huang was talking about -- falling into the pit, making small steps so you don't fall into a pit, pausing before you fall into the pit. Then, something strange happens. Instead of a pit, it's an open window, and instead of someone falling, it's a hand passing food. The dangerous abyss has become... a short-order cook at a diner? It's an opportunity, at any rate. Beyond that, the abyss begins filling up (but can never be filled higher than its walls -- a lesson, again, in steadfastness, little steps and humility), and finally, the walls of the abyss are replaced by thorny trees and ropes -- showing the fate of someone who reached too far, tried to take too many big steps, and wound up getting all tangled up.

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_{Curious why this is in a blog about Chinese adoption? Read this explanation. I'm using the Wilhelm/Baynes translation from the comprehensive Wengu collection or the user-friendly Eclectic Energies site, and I'm taking the character translations from Alfred Huang's The Complete I Ching. Feel like going deeper? Check out Hong Kong's Taoist Culture & Information Centre's I Ching page, and the essays & reviews on Ma Xia's Yijing Page.}