This is Gua 29 ䷜ in the Yi Jing, titled “Whitewater.” It is composed of ☵ Kǎn Water above ☵ Kǎn Water.
This is the ☵ Kǎn trigram in the Yi Jing, associated here with Water.
坎
kǎn
Pit, hole; entrapment or crisis; water (as a trigram).
Meaning
- Physical: A pit, hole, natural depression, conduit, or channel.
- Situational: Danger, crisis, or snare; specifically the experience of being hemmed in, submerged, or trapped within a hazardous environment.
- Elemental/Cosmological: Water (particularly in its descending or contained aspect) and depth. In //Yi Jing// symbolism (trigram ☵), it is associated with the ear, blood, the moon, the middle son, and the thief.
Distinctions
- Compared to 危 (wēi): While both denote danger, 坎 implies a specific spatiality of depth or enclosure (danger from below/around), whereas 危 often suggests precariousness or height.
- Compared to 陷 (xiàn): 陷 emphasizes the action of sinking or falling; 坎 refers to the nature of the depression or the state of entrapment.
Translator notes
- Intentionality: The term may refer to a natural topographic feature or a deliberate trap depending on context.
- Dynamics: Often implies directionality, such as descending into a void or the process of navigating through constrained hazards while maintaining internal reliability.
Decontextualized translator aid. This page describes plausible lexical range; it does not choose what the term means in a particular passage.