Which hexagram does Hexagram 29 change into?

It depends on which lines change. With one changing line: line 1 gives Hexagram 60, Limitation; line 2 gives Hexagram 8, Holding Together; line 3 gives Hexagram 48, The Well; line 4 gives Hexagram 47, Oppression; line 5 gives Hexagram 7, The Army; line 6 gives Hexagram 59, Dispersion. With every line changing it becomes Hexagram 30, The Clinging.

I Ching · King Wen 29

Hexagram 29: The Abysmal

䷜ 坎 Kǎn · also called Water, The Gorge, Repeated Danger · The Abysmal above The Abysmal

Danger repeated, as water in a ravine: the way through is sincerity, and going through rather than around.

dangersinceritypersistencedepthflow

The meaning of Hexagram 29

Water below, water above: the same trigram doubled, a gorge within a gorge. The Abysmal is the hexagram of danger, and it is not a warning to avoid it. Water does not avoid the ravine; it flows into it, fills every hollow, and moves on. The tradition's judgement says that with sincerity there is success in the heart, and that action brings esteem. The reading describes a situation that is difficult, possibly for a while, and it says the way through is to be like water: honest about the depth, undramatic, consistent, and unwilling to stop. Repetition is the teacher here. The danger returns until you have learned to move through it plainly.

The image. Water flows on and reaches its goal; the wise person walks in lasting virtue and practises the work of teaching.

Advice: Be like water: honest about the depth, consistent, and willing to go through rather than around.
Warning: Trying to climb out of the gorge by force or trickery is how the danger becomes a trap.

over

Structure: ☵ The Abysmal (Water) below, ☵ The Abysmal (Water) above. Nuclear hexagram 27, Nourishment. Every line reversed: 30, The Clinging.

Hexagram 29 for love and relationships

A hard stretch, and possibly a repeated one. The reading does not promise it ends soon. It says that sincerity, meaning saying what is true and staying, is what carries a relationship through the ravine. Avoiding the difficulty is what deepens it.

Hexagram 29 love & relationships in full →

Hexagram 29 for career

Real difficulty, perhaps the same difficulty returning. Do not seek a way around it; work through it steadily and honestly, one hollow at a time. Consistency under pressure is what earns esteem here.

Hexagram 29 career in full →

Hexagram 29 for money

Risk and constraint. Do not take on more; move through what is already there with discipline and truthfulness. The reading warns against clever escapes and rewards steady, honest handling.

Hexagram 29 money in full →

Hexagram 29 for decisions

Not a moment for the bold or the evasive option. Choose the one that goes straight through the difficulty with honesty and can be sustained. Expect to pass this way more than once.

Hexagram 29 a decision in full →

The six changing lines

Read from the bottom. A changing line flips, and the hexagram it changes into is named with each.

Line 6 · yin
Bound with cords and ropes, shut in among thorns. For three years one finds no way. Misfortune.
Someone who has lost the way in the danger so completely that a long confinement follows. The line is the hexagram's darkest, and its purpose is to name the consequence of refusing, over and over, to go through honestly.
Changing, it becomes Hexagram 59, Dispersion. Read line 6 →
Line 5 · yang
The abyss is not filled to overflowing; it is filled only to the rim. No blame.
The danger has reached its limit and is about to recede. The line warns against ambition at exactly this moment: seek only to reach level ground, not to overflow. Escape is near if you do not overreach.
Changing, it becomes Hexagram 7, The Army. Read line 5 →
Line 4 · yin
A jug of wine, a bowl of rice, earthen vessels handed through the window. In the end, no blame.
In hard times, sincerity without ceremony: the simplest offering, passed through the simplest opening. Plain honesty between people in difficulty, stripped of form, is what gets through. The line is tender.
Changing, it becomes Hexagram 47, Oppression. Read line 4 →
Line 3 · yin
Forward and backward, abyss upon abyss. Pause and wait, or you fall deeper. Do not act.
Every direction looks like more danger, and the temptation is to thrash. The line's instruction is to stop. Movement in any direction now makes it worse; stillness is the only safe act.
Changing, it becomes Hexagram 48, The Well. Read line 3 →
Line 2 · yang
The abyss is dangerous. One should strive to attain small things only.
In the middle of the difficulty, with no way out yet. The line counsels modest aims: small gains, small safeties, no attempt at the big escape. This is how water fills the hollow before it moves on.
Changing, it becomes Hexagram 8, Holding Together. Read line 2 →
Line 1 · yin
Repeated danger. Falling into a pit within the pit. Misfortune.
Someone who has become used to danger and stopped taking it seriously, and so falls deeper. Habituation is the fault. The line asks you to see the ravine freshly even if you have been in it before.
Changing, it becomes Hexagram 60, Limitation. Read line 1 →

Related hexagrams

← 28 Great Excess 30 The Clinging →

Cast your own reading

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Common questions

What does I Ching Hexagram 29 mean?: Danger repeated, as water in a ravine: the way through is sincerity, and going through rather than around. Water below, water above: the same trigram doubled, a gorge within a gorge. The Abysmal is the hexagram of danger, and it is not a warning to avoid it. Water does not avoid the ravine; it flows into it, fills every hollow, and moves on. The tradition's judgement says that with sincerity there is success in the heart, and that action brings esteem. The reading describes a situation that is difficult, possibly for a while, and it says the way through is to be like water: honest about the depth, undramatic, consistent, and unwilling to stop. Repetition is the teacher here. The danger returns until you have learned to move through it plainly.
What does Hexagram 29 mean for love?: A hard stretch, and possibly a repeated one. The reading does not promise it ends soon. It says that sincerity, meaning saying what is true and staying, is what carries a relationship through the ravine. Avoiding the difficulty is what deepens it.
Which hexagram does Hexagram 29 change into?: It depends on which lines change. With one changing line: line 1 gives Hexagram 60, Limitation; line 2 gives Hexagram 8, Holding Together; line 3 gives Hexagram 48, The Well; line 4 gives Hexagram 47, Oppression; line 5 gives Hexagram 7, The Army; line 6 gives Hexagram 59, Dispersion. With every line changing it becomes Hexagram 30, The Clinging.