家人 → 艮
Hexagram 37: The Family → Hexagram 52: Keeping Still Mountain
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 1, 5).
Line 1
初九 閑有家。悔亡。
Nine at the beginning means: Firm seclusion within the family. Remorse disappears.
Line 5
九五 王假有家。勿恤吉。
Nine in the fifth place means: As a king he approaches his family. Fear not. Good fortune.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
路多枳棘，步刺我足。不利旅客，為心作毒。
Moss grows on the threshold; the iron lock rusts shut. The road home is far; the courtyard lies abandoned.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Wind from fire once warmed this threshold, but now the hearth is cold. The original verse reads: 'The road is thick with thorns and thistles; they stab at my feet. Unfavorable for the traveler, they poison the heart.' A path so overgrown with brambles that every step draws blood — the journey itself becomes a wound. The thorns are not merely inconvenient; they are toxic, breeding bitterness in the one who must walk through them. From The Family to Keeping Still, twin mountains stand in absolute stillness. The traveler's pain is met by the mountain's instruction: stop. When every step forward brings injury, the only wisdom is to cease walking. Keeping Still does not solve the problem of thorns but prevents further harm — sometimes the bravest act is to remain where one is.
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