否 → 泰
Hexagram 12: Standstill → Hexagram 11: Peace
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 6 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6).
Line 1
初六 拔茅茹。以其彙。貞吉。亨。
Six at the beginning means: When ribbon grass is pulled up, the sod comes with it. Each according to his kind. Perseverance brings good fortune and success.
Line 2
六二 包承。小人吉。大人否。亨。
Six in the second place means: They bear and endure; This means good fortune for inferior people. The standstill serves to help the great man to attain success.
Line 3
六三 包羞。
Six in the third place means: They bear shame.
Line 4
九四 有命无咎。疇離祉。
Nine in the fourth place means: He who acts at the command of the highest Remains without blame. Those of like mind partake of the blessing.
Line 5
九五 休否。大人吉。其亡其亡。繫于苞桑。
Nine in the fifth place means: Standstill is giving way. Good fortune for the great man. "What if it should fail, what if it should fail?" In this way he ties it to a cluster of mulberry shoots.
Line 6
上九 傾否。先否後喜。
Nine at the top means: The standstill comes to an end. First standstill, then good fortune.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
行不如還，直不如屈；進不若退，可以安吉。
Going is not as good as returning; straight is not as good as bent. Advancing is not as good as retreating; thereby one may rest in peace.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Heaven and earth refuse to mingle, and the verse offers Standstill's own remedy: going forward is not as good as turning back; straightness is not as good as yielding; advancing is not as good as retreating — thus one may find safety and good fortune. From Standstill to Peace, the hexagram literally inverts: heaven above earth (Pi) becomes earth above heaven (Tai), the only configuration in which the two forces meet and communicate. The verse's paradox is the paradox of Tai itself — retreat produces advance, yielding produces strength, bending produces wholeness. This is the structural logic of the I-Ching's most famous pair: Standstill is overcome not by pushing harder but by reversing direction entirely.
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