Chun / Difficulty at the Beginning

above: K'an The Abysmal, Water
below: Ch^ en The Arousing, Thunder

Kun (indicates that in the case which it presupposes) here will be great progress and success, and the advantage will come from being correct and firm. (But) any movement in advance should not be (lightly) undertaken. There will be advantage in appointing feudal princes.

Overall Meaning

Initial difficulties, the symbol of bursting

The character called Kun is pictorial, and was intended to show us how a plant struggles with difficulty out of the earth, rising gradually above the surface. This difficulty, marking the first stages in the growth of a plant, is used to symbolize the struggles that mark the rise of a state out of a condition of disorder, consequent on a great revolution. The same thing is denoted by the combination of the trigrams that form the figure; - as will be seen in the notes under it in Appendix II. King Wan saw the social and political world around him in great disorder, hard to be remedied. But he had faith in himself and the destinies of his House. Let there be prudence and caution, with unswerving adherence to the right; let the government of the different states be entrusted to good and able men: - then all would be well.