Jing concerns a foundation from which people can keep drawing. It does not merely praise well water: it includes mud, leaking vessels, a cleaned well left unused, and the final question of covering its opening. Throughout, it asks whether something useful has actually reached the people who need it.
井 is hexagram 48 in the traditional King Wen sequence, with the symbol ䷯. Its lower trigram is 巽☴ and its upper trigram is 坎☵, traditionally associated with wind and water respectively. Count the lines from the bottom: 初六, 九二, 九三, 六四, 九五, 上六. A solid line is yang; a broken line is yin. Nine and six identify yang and yin in the line labels; they do not add extra lines.
Line structure (bottom to top): 0 1 1 0 1 0
Six-line figure, displayed top to bottom; line numbering starts at the bottom.
━━━━ ━━━━ 上六
━━━━━━━━━ 九五
━━━━ ━━━━ 六四
━━━━━━━━━ 九三
━━━━━━━━━ 九二
━━━━ ━━━━ 初六
The judgment
井：改邑不改井，无喪无得，往來井井。汔至亦未繘井。羸其瓶，凶。
Original editorial rendering, not a quotation from Legge: The well: the settlement may change, but the well does not. Neither loss nor gain; people come and go, drawing from the well. Almost reaching it, yet not completing the draw; the vessel is broken. Unfavorable.
The judgment depicts a settlement changing while its well remains, emphasizing a stable supply and people coming and going to draw from it. Its last part describes water-drawing nearly completed yet still vulnerable to problems with the rope or vessel. Legge likewise attends to the relationship between an available resource and the process of accessing it.
This is not a scientific conclusion that wells never run dry. Modern study can draw an analogy with information, public spaces, or shared tools. Preserving them is only the first step: maintenance, points of access, instructions, and delivery all affect whether they are genuinely useful.
Sources: zhouyi-48, legge1882-48
Interpretation in the Ten Wings
The Commentary on the Judgment and the Commentary on the Images belong to the Yi Zhuan, the commentaries usually called the “Ten Wings.” Here their explanations are kept distinct from the judgment and line texts, before turning to modern applications for study.
The Commentary on the Judgment explains the figure through such expressions as entering the water and bringing water upward. The Commentary on the Images depicts water above wood and speaks of encouraging people’s work and mutual help, linking the well to shared labor and assistance.
This article applies that connection to ordinary shared affairs: who takes on maintenance, how do users receive instructions, and are contributions recognized? We should not praise sharing while quietly leaving long-term upkeep to a few people.
初六 · A resource’s presence does not mean it remains usable
井泥不食，舊井无禽。
Original editorial rendering, not a quotation from Legge: A muddy well: its water is not drunk. At the old well there are no birds.
Mud makes the well’s water undrinkable, and not even birds come to the old well. Legge preserves the picture of abandonment and lost use.
A document that has not been updated for years may retain a prominent position but no longer help its readers. Checking its validity is more responsible than continuing to recommend it simply because it has been kept for a long time.
Sources: zhouyi-48, legge1882-48
九二 · The tools of access may be where the losses occur
井谷射鮒，瓮敝漏。
Original editorial rendering, not a quotation from Legge: In the well’s hollow, water shoots toward small fish; the jar is broken and leaking.
Water goes toward small fish by the well, while the water vessel is damaged and leaks. Legge reads a situation in which the resource is not being properly drawn for human use.
A shared file may contain excellent material, but a wrong entry point, broken link, or unreadable format can block its use. Repairing the connection between people and resources is substantive work too.
Sources: zhouyi-48, legge1882-48
九三 · Restored value can still go unnoticed
井渫不食，為我心惻，可用汲，王明，並受其福。
Original editorial rendering, not a quotation from Legge: The well is cleared but its water is not drunk, grieving my heart. It can be drawn from. If the king is discerning, all receive its benefit.
The well has been cleared but no one draws from it, which causes sorrow. Legge explains its availability without use and connects the discerning king’s role with recognition and shared benefit.
After producing useful instructions, let the appropriate people know where they are and how to use them. “I have finished writing them” should not be the end; temporary lack of use should not erase all their value either.
Sources: zhouyi-48, legge1882-48
六四 · Maintenance deserves a place in the plan
井甃，无咎。
Original editorial rendering, not a quotation from Legge: The well is lined and repaired; no blame.
甃 refers to lining or repairing a well’s walls. Legge reads this as making the well sound. There is no grand declaration of achievement, but there is clearly defined foundational work.
Assign ongoing responsibility for organizing, checking, and updating rather than improvising repairs only when trouble appears. Maintenance may attract little attention, yet it determines whether a resource can keep helping others.
Sources: zhouyi-48, legge1882-48
九五 · Quality must withstand actual use
井冽，寒泉食。
Original editorial rendering, not a quotation from Legge: The well is clear; its cold spring water is drunk.
Clear, cool spring water can be drunk: the image concerns usable quality. Legge sees the well’s function being properly fulfilled.
In a modern analogy, a document’s value can be checked through accuracy, clarity, and feedback from actual use. A beautiful cover or a large quantity cannot substitute for solving a specific problem.
Sources: zhouyi-48, legge1882-48
上六 · A good supply needs appropriate access
井收勿幕，有孚元吉。
Original editorial rendering, not a quotation from Legge: The well’s water is brought up; do not cover it. There is trust: great good fortune.
Legge reads 井收 as water ready to be drawn up, and 勿幕 as not covering the well, so people can share it. The image presents a supply brought to completion.
When sharing, give appropriate users a clear point of access while respecting privacy and authorization. Openness does not mean making every document public; nor does it mean ignoring safety protection around a real well opening.
Sources: zhouyi-48, legge1882-48
Maintaining shared learning materials
Original modern scenario
A group has accumulated many course notes, but new members often cannot find a way in. The person organizing them first removes obsolete content, labels the scope of the material that remains useful, and places the links somewhere easy to find.
She asks two new members to try using them and discovers that some files require extra permissions while some explanations assume background knowledge. The group fixes these issues and agrees who will handle future updates.
The amount of material has hardly increased, but more people can use it. Here, Jing reminds the group that a resource’s value lies not only in the quantity stored, but also in its quality, upkeep, and a successfully completed process of access.
Avoiding misreadings
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Jing is not a technical guide to drinking water, water infrastructure, or building safety. Ancient water imagery cannot replace testing and professional treatment.
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Shared resources still require permissions, privacy, and maintenance. “Do not cover it” cannot imply unconditional public access.
Three exercises
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Choose a regularly used resource and check whether it remains accurate, complete, and applicable.
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Ask a new user to find and use it from the beginning, recording the actual obstacles.
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Clarify one maintenance responsibility and a condition that should trigger an update, rather than remembering only after the resource has failed.
Related reading
Ding — The Cauldron (hexagram-50): Jing concerns stable supply and access; Ding concerns how a vessel supports transformation and shared enjoyment. Both reveal the importance of tools and maintenance, but their specific images should not be conflated.
When reading Jing, ask: can other people really find, understand, and use what I believe I have already provided?
Sources
Source: zh · hexagram-48 · SHA256 33a6d67fe30ff67b044f7b5e4a37d2401cdf2c5cc39418bb5244aaab1c6de058
Translation status: complete_translation_pending_review; independent editorial review: pending_translation_review; human native-speaker/expert review: not performed; unpublished.