離 → 艮
Hexagram 30: The Clinging Fire → Hexagram 52: Keeping Still Mountain
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 1, 4).
Line 1
初九 履錯然。敬之。无咎。
Nine at the beginning means: The footprints run crisscross. If one is seriously intent, no blame.
Line 4
九四 突如其來如。焚如。死如。棄如。
Nine in the fourth place means: Its coming is sudden; It flames up, dies down, is thrown away.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
河水孔穴，壞敗我室，水深無涯，魚鱉傾倒。
River water breaches the hole; ruining and destroying my dwelling. The water is deep without limit; fish and turtles topple and overturn.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Doubled fire meets the doubled mountain: brilliance confronts absolute stillness forced by catastrophe. River water bursts through holes and destroys the dwelling. The water is bottomless in depth; fish and turtles tumble and overturn. The verse describes a devastating flood that undermines the very foundation of habitation. The home is not merely damaged but annihilated by water pouring through subterranean channels. From The Clinging to Keeping Still, fire's restless clarity encounters the twin mountains that counsel absolute stillness. Yet the verse shows that when external forces are overwhelming — water erupting from below — even stillness cannot save the structure. The mountain that should stand firm is hollowed from within. Sometimes the wisest response to catastrophe is not to stand still but to recognize that the ground itself has shifted.
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