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Hexagram 48: Jing (井) — The Well
Hexagram 48, Jing (井) — The Well, is the forty-eighth of the 64 hexagrams of the I Ching, the Water trigram standing over the Wind trigram; it is the classic symbol of the source that sustains, of nourishment drawn steadily from what endures.
Meaning
Jing is the hexagram of the well. Water above, Wind and wood below — the old image is a wooden bucket lowered into a spring. The judgment's famous line — "the town may be changed, but the well cannot be changed" — is the book's teaching on what endures through every change: the source. Cities rise and fall, but the well stays where it is, and its water is the same.
In career and enterprise, Jing counsels tending the source over chasing the surface. The well serves everyone who draws from it, and its value is that it keeps giving. The counsel for work is to build and maintain what reliably nourishes — skill, systems, knowledge — rather than to drain what you have. Line 3 is the warning: "the well is cleaned, but no one drinks from it," the sorrow of good capacity left unused. Talent unshared is as much a failure as talent absent.
In relationships, Jing is the steady, deep bond that nourishes over time. It does not flare; it gives. The image of the dependable well is the book's picture of the person others can draw from without depleting. The caution, carried in line 2, is against neglect of the vessel: a broken jug leaks, and no amount of water in the well helps if the means of drawing it is broken.
For timing, Jing marks a phase that favors consistency over novelty — a time to draw steadily on what is already sound rather than to dig new ground. The hexagram's counsel is to keep the source clean and the rope in repair, and to make sure that what you have to offer is actually being used.
The Judgment
“The Well. The town may be changed, but the well cannot be changed.”
The Six Lines of The Well
Line 1One does not drink the mud of the well. No animals come to an old well.
Line 2At the wellhole one shoots fishes. The jug is broken and leaks.
Line 3The well is cleaned, but no one drinks from it. This is my heart's sorrow, for one might draw from it.
Line 4The well is being lined. No blame.
Line 5In the well there is a clear, cold spring from which one can drink.
Line 6One draws from the well without hindrance. It is dependable. Supreme good fortune.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What does Hexagram 48 (Jing, The Well) mean?
Hexagram 48, Jing (井) — The Well, is the hexagram of the enduring source: Water over Wind, the bucket lowered into the spring. Its judgment — "the town may be changed, but the well cannot be changed" — teaches that what sustains is the source, which outlasts every surface change.
What is the trigram structure of Hexagram 48?
Jing is the Water trigram (坎) above and the Wind trigram (巽) below. Wind below is also the image of wood, so the hexagram reads as a wooden bucket drawing water — the means by which a source that cannot change is steadily made useful.
What is the warning in Hexagram 48?
The warning is neglect of the vessel: line 2's broken, leaking jug means the water is there but the means of drawing it is broken. And line 3 warns of the opposite failure — a clean well nobody drinks from, good capacity left unused.
Related
Source: Judgment and line texts follow the Wilhelm/Baynes rendering of the Yijing used across energyyi.com (Wilhelm's original German, 1924, is in the public domain).
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