Hexagram 11: Peace → Hexagram 12: Standstill

Peace
Earth / Heaven
Standstill
Heaven / Earth
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 6 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6).

Line 1

初九 拔茅茹。以其彙。征吉。

pulling
máothatch
by the roots
thereby
uprooting its
huìwhole cluster
zhēngto expedite
promising

Nine at the beginning means: When ribbon grass is pulled up, the sod comes with it. Each according to his kind. Undertakings bring good fortune.

Line 2

九二 包荒。用馮河。不遐遺。朋亡。得尚于中行。

bāoembrace
huāngthe wilderness
yòngpractical
píngto cross
river
avoid
xiáaloofness
neglect
péngcompanions
wángimpermanent
learn
shàngthe value
in
zhōngbalanced
xíngaction

Nine in the second place means: Bearing with the uncultured in gentleness, Fording the river with resolution, Not neglecting what is distant, Not regarding one's companions: Thus one may manage to walk in the middle.

Line 3

九三 无平不陂。无往不復。艱貞无咎。勿恤其孚。于食有福。

there is not
pínglevel
without
slope
there is no
wǎnggoing
without
return
jiāndifficult
zhēnto persist
without
jiùmistake
do not
worry
these
certainties
in
shínourishment
yǒufind
happiness

Nine in the third place means: No plain not followed by a slope. No going not followed by a return. He who remains persevering in danger Is without blame. Do not complain about this truth; Enjoy the good fortune you still possess.

Line 4

六四 翩翩。不富以其鄰。不戒以孚。

piānfluttering
piānfluttering
no
enrichment
making use of
one's
línneighbors
avoid
jièlimit
the ways
trust

Six in the fourth place means: He flutters down, not boasting of his wealth, Together with his neighbor, Guileless and sincere.

Line 5

六五 帝乙歸妹。以祉元吉。

Lord
Yi (next to the last Shang Emperor)
guīgiving
mèihis little sister
meant
zhǐhappiness
yuánfirst-rate
good fortune

Six in the fifth place means: The sovereign I Gives his daughter in marriage. This brings blessing And supreme good fortune.

Line 6

上六 城復于隍。勿用師。自邑告命。貞吝。

chéngthe city walls
falls back
into
huángthe moat (a dry ditch at the base of a wall)
do not
yòngengage
shīthe military
in
home town
gàoannounce
mìngthe decree
zhēnto persist
lìnembarrassing

Six at the top means: The wall falls back into the moat. Use no army now. Make your commands known within your own town. Perseverance brings humiliation.

Trigram Changes

Upper TrigramEarth HeavenThe Receptive → The Creative
Lower TrigramHeaven EarthThe Creative → The Receptive

Yilin Verse

陟岵望母,役事未已;王政無盬,不得相保。

Climbing the hill, gazing toward mother; service and labor never cease. The king's affairs know no end; we cannot keep each other safe.

— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE

Commentary

Earth above heaven, Peace crumbles under endless conscription. The verse quotes the Shijing ode 'Zhi Hu' from the Wei songs: a soldier climbs a bare hilltop and gazes toward his mother, but the king's service never ends. Royal governance grinds on without rest, and families cannot hold together. The poem's grief is structural, not personal — it indicts a system that tears the young from their parents without pause. From Peace to Standstill, heaven and earth cease their communion entirely. The transformation is devastating: where once energies mingled freely, now above and below are severed, and the conscript's longing gaze finds only distance.

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