A note on 48 Ching / The Well

One had consulted the Yi fourteen times over the past twenty months and the Yi answered four of the questions with Hexagram 48 Ching / The Well. By coincidence, on all four occassions, the questions were for investments in shares and the hexagram appeared twice in October 2003 and twice again last week. Of these four occurrences, the first prognosis had a fifth line changing while the second had a top changing line. The third prognosis has both the third and the fifth lines changing while the fourth and last has no changing lines. From experience, one knows that The Well is a good hexagram for share investments. But does the Yi want to say something more with the frequent repetitions of this hexagram?

The Judgment
The Well. The town may be changed, but the well cannot be changed. It neither decreases nor increases. They come and go and draw from the well. If one gets down almost to the water and the rope does not go all the way, or the jug breaks, it brings misfortune.

Appended Judgments:
The Well shows the field of character. The Well abides in its place, yet has influence on other things. The Well brings about discrimination as to what is right.

The Image:
Water over wood: the Image of the Well. Thus the superior man encourages the people at their work and exhorts them to help one another.

Third line:
The well is cleaned, but no one drinks from it. This is my heart’s sorrow, for one might draw from it. If the king were clear-minded, good fortune might be enjoyed in common.

Fifth line:
In the well there is a clear, cold spring from which one can drink.

Top line:
One draws from the well without hindrance. It is dependable. Supreme good fortune. [W/B]

Notes:
1) The Judgment contains two warnings, ‘If one gets down almost to the water and the rope does not go all the way, or the jug breaks, it brings misfortune.’ The first is that a man may fail in his education to penetrate to the real roots of humanity and remain fixed in convention. The second is that he may suddenly collapse and neglect his self-development.
2) The appended judgments and the image are disclosed to provide additional layers of understanding.
3) For a moment there, one thought the Yi was lamenting (third line) but not so as there have been some changes. One has already sold the particular investment bought last week (upon the third prognosis) for a 45 % capital gain this week.
Thanks to both Joel writing about me in his Biroco blog and Hilary writing in her Answers blog about some entries here, there has been a noticeable increase in readers lately. Hopefully readers can come to share their experiences and allow others to partake from the well. Do note that the Resources links are also Wells.
4) One of the attributes of water, wisdom is clearly depicted in this hexagram. Learning from the wise is like drawing and drinking clear cool water from the well (fifth line). Anyone can drink from the well and yet the well never runs dry (top line).
Perhaps Laozi had this hexagram in mind when he wrote in Chapter 8 of the TTC that the highest excellence is like water and that water benefits all things. (Also see below.)
5) Water nourishes wood (the Well) and wood nourishes fire (the Cauldron). Both hexagrams depict how humanity can be nourished. Consequently we can learn from the deep wisdoms contain in both hexagrams for our self and spiritual development.