坤 → 艮
Hexagram 2: The Receptive → Hexagram 52: Keeping Still Mountain
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 3, 6).
Line 3
六三 含章可貞。或從王事。无成有終。
Six in the third place means: Hidden lines. One is able to remain persevering. If by chance you are in the service of a king, Seek not works, but bring to completion.
Line 6
上六 龍戰于野。其血玄黃。
Six at the top means: Dragons fight in the meadow. Their blood is black and yellow.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
塗遏道塞，求事不得。
The road is blocked, the way sealed; endeavors are not achieved.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Earth upon earth transforms into doubled mountain — Keeping Still. The road is blocked and obstructed; what one seeks cannot be obtained. Two lines, terse and final. Doubled mountain, the image of Gen, is the ultimate stillness — the gentleman's mind does not go beyond its proper position. The verse enacts this principle through negation: no passage, no acquisition, no progress. Gen stops movement by its very nature, and this verse stops as abruptly as the hexagram demands. From the Receptive to Keeping Still, the earth's open expanse raises mountains that halt all traversal. What Kun offered freely — space, passage, receptivity — Gen withdraws. The brevity of the verse mirrors the teaching: when the time calls for stillness, there is nothing more to say.
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