咸 → 否
Hexagram 31: Influence → Hexagram 12: Standstill
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 3, 6).
Line 3
九三 咸其股。執其隨。往吝。
Nine in the third place means: The influence shows itself in the thighs. Holds to that which follows it. To continue is humiliating.
Line 6
上六 咸其輔頰舌。
Six at the top means: The influence shows itself in the jaws, cheeks, and tongue.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
望龍無目，不見手足，入水求玉，失其所欲。
Gazing at a dragon without eyes; not seeing hands or feet. Entering the water seeking jade; losing what one desires.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
A lake upon a mountain invites resonance, but here vision itself fails. A dragon is glimpsed but has no eyes; hands and feet vanish from sight. One dives into the water seeking jade but loses what was desired. The eyeless dragon suggests a power structure without discernment — a leader or an age that has lost its capacity to see clearly. Entering water for jade is a gamble on hidden treasure that ends in disorientation. From Influence to Standstill, the mountain's open receptivity becomes heaven and earth refusing to communicate: heaven rises, earth sinks, and the two drift apart. Mutual feeling degenerates into mutual blindness. When above and below can no longer see each other, even precious things within reach slip away unrecognized.
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