What this change means
Water over water now: when the second and third lines move, the Mountain dissolves and Held Back becomes 29 Water, danger meeting danger. The third line leads, turning you around: back off from what blocks you and go home to the people who love you until it's time to act. The second line stands beside it, describing difficulties that pile up through no fault of yours, met with integrity. These two together recognize that some of the trouble is simply the terrain. The resulting hexagram adds a crucial piece: like a stream, you get past obstacles by continuing to move, not by freezing. Fear that paralyzes is the real trap. So the retreat the third line suggests should be a regrouping, not a hiding place. Rest among your own, keep your integrity, and then flow on, one obstacle at a time.
What to read, in order
Marked ● is what Zhu Xi's tradition puts at the center for this number of moving lines.
- Line 3 of 39 Held Back
The right thing now is to step back from the obstacles and return to normal conditions, with the people who love you, until the time to act comes.
Going: hardship. Coming: a return.
- Line 2 of 39 Held Back
It's time to face the difficulties, which seem to grow as you advance. Still, if your actions go hand in hand with inner integrity, you'll succeed in the end.
The king's servant, in hardship upon hardship, and not of their own doing.
- The judgment of 39 Held Back
Every time you advance, something blocks you, forcing you to stop, step back, and look for help from like-minded people who give you their support. That way you'll get past the obstacles one by one until the final victory.
The southwest is favorable; the northeast is not. It is favorable to see the great person. Constancy brings good fortune.
- The judgment of 29 Water
Just as a stream moves through obstacles and gets past them, following its course without stagnating, you're at a time when obstacles will come one after another, but you'll get past them if you can keep moving. Letting fear paralyze you will only leave you stuck.
There is sincere trust. Only the heart gets through. Going earns esteem.
The trigrams
The way back
29 Water → 39 Held Backlines 2 and 3
Other transformations of Held Back
- 5Inactionlines 1 and 2
- 3Initial Obstacleslines 1 and 3
- 49Renewallines 1 and 4
- 28Excesseslines 2 and 4
- 45Meetinglines 3 and 4
- 36Darknesslines 1 and 5
- 46Going Uplines 2 and 5
- 2Passivitylines 3 and 5
- 62Success in Small Matterslines 4 and 5
- 37The Tribelines 1 and 6
- 57Gentlenesslines 2 and 6
- 20Observinglines 3 and 6
- 33Leaving Behindlines 4 and 6
- 52Abidinglines 5 and 6
Make your own cast
The answer changes with the question. Toss the coins and see which lines move for you.