井Jing.The Well.
Water stands above Wind and Wood: the wooden mechanism reaches downward and raises nourishment from a stable source. Jing concerns shared infrastructure, renewable value and the quality of access between a community and what sustains it.
Maintain the infrastructure that turns enduring value into shared nourishment.
Jing is the Well: a stable communal resource that outlasts changes in settlement, ownership and fashion.
The danger comes near completion. A sound source produces no benefit if the rope is too short, the bucket breaks or the water is never drawn. Capacity and access must be maintained together.
Water above. Wind and Wood below.
Wood enters Water and raises it. The structure converts a hidden resource into public nourishment.
A dependable source still requires competent delivery.
The governing proposition
井：改邑不改井，無喪無得，往來井井。汔至，亦未繘井，羸其瓶，凶。
The town may change, but the Well does not. It neither loses nor gains. People come and go to it. Near arrival, if the rope has not reached and the vessel breaks, there is misfortune.
Nourishment without exhaustion
巽乎水而上水，井；井養而不窮也。
Wood enters the Water and raises it: the Well. The Well nourishes without being exhausted.
Organise mutual support
木上有水，井；君子以勞民勸相。
Water above Wood: the Well. The cultivated person encourages the people in labour and mutual assistance.
Six conditions of the Well.
A muddy Well is not drunk fromThe old Well attracts no birds · Changes to 05 需
初六：井泥不食，舊井無禽。
A neglected resource becomes unusable regardless of its history.
小象傳 · 井泥不食，下也；舊井無禽，時舍也.The low, abandoned Well is left by the time.
The Well’s hollow shoots at fishThe cracked jar leaks · Changes to 39 蹇
九二：井谷射鮒，甕敝漏。
Capacity is spent on minor targets because the delivery vessel cannot hold value.
小象傳 · 井谷射鮒，無與也.The Well serves small fish because it has no proper connection.
The Well is cleaned but not usedA clear ruler would let all receive blessing · Changes to 29 坎
九三：井渫不食，為我心惻，可用汲。王明，並受其福。
Quality exists, but recognition and access are missing. Wise leadership connects the available resource to need.
小象傳 · 井渫不食，行惻也；求王明，受福也.The unused clean Well causes sorrow; clear leadership brings blessing.
The Well is linedRepair creates no blame · Changes to 28 大過
六四：井甃，無咎。
Pause extraction long enough to repair the structure. Maintenance protects future usefulness.
小象傳 · 井甃無咎，修井也.There is no blame because the Well is repaired.
The Well is clear; the cold spring is drunkQuality and access meet · Changes to 46 升
九五：井冽，寒泉食。
The source is clean, central and available. Its value is realised through actual use.
小象傳 · 寒泉之食，中正也.The cold spring is drunk because the position is central and correct.
The Well is drawn from; do not cover itSincerity brings supreme fortune · Changes to 57 巽
上六：井收勿幕，有孚元吉。
The mature resource remains openly accessible. Trust and shared benefit complete the Well’s purpose.
小象傳 · 元吉在上，大成也.Supreme fortune at the top is great completion.
Protect the source, repair the vessel and design reliable access.
Work and leadership
Build shared knowledge, systems and institutions that remain useful beyond individual tenure.
Relationships
Care may exist at the source while habits of access remain damaged; repair the channel.
Timing and decisions
Do not abandon a good resource because its current delivery mechanism has failed.
Jing is constructive when enduring resources remain clean, maintained and accessible.
Aligned expression
- The source is protected.
- Infrastructure is maintained.
- Value reaches real users.
- Access remains trustworthy.
Distorted expression
- History substitutes for usefulness.
- Vessels leak value.
- Good resources remain unseen.
- Control covers the shared source.