K'an / The Abysmal (Water)
above:K'an The Abysmal, Water
below:K'an The Abysmal, Water
The fourth [six], divided, shows its subject (at feast), with (simply) a bottle of spirits and a subsidiary basket of rice, while (the cups and bowls) are (only) of earthenware. He introduces important lessons, (as his ruler's) intelligence admits. There will in the end be no error.
Line 4 is weak, and will get no help from its correlate in 1. Its subject is not one who can avert the danger threatening himself and others. But his position is close to that of the ruler in 5, whose intimacy he cultivates with an unostentatious sincerity, symbolled by the appointments of the simple feast, and whose intelligence he cautiously enlightens. In consequence, there will be no error.