遯 → 艮

Commentary

Heaven above the mountain stills into doubled mountain — Keeping Still, where all motion ceases. The original verse reads: 'The road is thick with thorns and brambles, every step pierces my feet. Unfavorable for the traveler — it poisons the heart.' The path is so overgrown that walking itself becomes an act of suffering. The traveler cannot advance without injury, and the experience breeds bitterness rather than wisdom. From Retreat to Keeping Still, the mountain's withdrawal doubles into absolute immobility. Two mountains face each other with nowhere to go. The verse captures the moment when retreat becomes entrapment: the one who withdrew finds that every path forward is barbed, and staying still is the only option — not from choice but from the impossibility of movement in any direction.