Hexagram 47 · Line 3
Oppression — 三九
Kun Oppression · San Jiu
The Line
One lets oneself be oppressed by stone and leans on thorns and thistles. One enters one's house and does not see one's wife. Misfortune!
Interpretation
Here is shown a man who is restless and undecided in times of distress. First he wants to go forward; there he meets obstacles that, however, mean distress only if one proceeds against them in an unthinking manner. He wants to go through the wall with his head and as a result feels himself oppressed by the wall. Then he leans on things that have no hold in themselves and are therefore questionable for the one who leans on them. Now he turns back undecidedly and withdraws into his house, but only to discover, to new disappointment, that his wife is not there. Confucius says of this: "When someone lets themself be oppressed by something that should not oppress them, their name will certainly come into shame. When they lean on things on which one cannot lean, their life will certainly come into danger. Whoever is in shame and danger is approached by the hour of death; how then can they still see their wife?"