Hexagram 48: 井
jǐng — the well, wellspring, spring; resource-ful
Judgment
The well. The town may be changed, but the well cannot be changed. The BBS node might upgrade hardware, move to a new machine, but the message base—the actual structure of shared knowledge—persists.
Image
Water over wood: the image of the well. Thus the superior man encourages the people at their work, and exhorts them to help one another. The sysop maintains the boards, welcomes new users, encourages posting. The system works when people contribute, when they replenish what they draw from.
Digital Artifact
The BBS Node's Message Base
Ward Christensen & Randy Suess (1978)
In 1978, Christensen and Suess built CBBS—the first bulletin board system—running on a CP/M machine connected to a phone line. The system wasn't about cutting-edge technology. It was about creating infrastructure. A message board that stayed constant while everything around it changed: computers upgraded, users cycled through, software evolved. But the well remained. You dialed in with your 300-baud modem, the handshake screeched through, and there it was: the message base. Always available. Sysops maintained it, refreshed the boards, purged old messages, but the structure persisted. New users found help files, old-timers posted wisdom, everyone drew from the same communal source. The BBS wasn't about novelty—it was about being there, consistently, offering what people needed: connection, information, community. Cities changed, administrations changed, but the well stayed in the same place.
Historical Context
- Period
- Zhou Dynasty
- Oracle Bone Etymology
- Wind (☴) sits below, Water (☵) sits above—wood penetrates earth to bring water upward.
- Traditional Use
- The classical text describes the well as social infrastructure that outlasts political change. The shape of the well remains constant; generations come and go, all drawing from the same source.
Lines
Line 1: 井泥不食舊井無禽
Line 2: 井谷射鮒甕敝漏
Line 3: 井渫不食為我心惻可用汲王明並受其福
Line 4: 井甃無咎
Line 5: 井洌寒泉食
Line 6: 井收勿幕有孚元吉
Practical Guidance
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