蹇 → 艮
Hexagram 39: Obstruction → Hexagram 52: Keeping Still Mountain
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 5, 6).
Line 5
九五 大蹇朋來。
Nine in the fifth place means: In the midst of the greatest obstructions, Friends come.
Line 6
上六 往蹇來碩。吉。利見大人。
Six at the top means: Going leads to obstructions, Coming leads to great good fortune. It furthers one to see the great man.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
登山履谷，與虎相觸。猬為功曹，班叔奔北，脫之喜國。
Climbing mountains and treading valleys, encountering a tiger face to face. The hedgehog serves as marshal; Ban Shu flees north, escaping to the land of joy.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Water on the mountain drives the traveler into the tiger's path. Ascending mountains and traversing valleys, one encounters a tiger face to face. Yet the hedgehog serves as Chief Clerk — that small, armored creature whose spines keep even the tiger at bay — and someone identified as 'Ban Shu' flees northward, ultimately reaching safety in a fortunate land. The hedgehog-as-Gongcao allusion, drawn from the Shiji's Treatise on Divination, represents the bureaucratic functionary whose institutional authority subdues raw power. From Obstruction to Keeping Still, double mountains stand firm. The tiger's menace is met not by counter-force but by stillness and structural defense — the hedgehog's spines, the mountain's immobility. When Obstruction doubles down as Keeping Still, survival comes from knowing when to stop moving entirely and let the predator exhaust its fury against an impenetrable surface.
The Six Lines app includes all 4,096 Yilin verses, each with original ink brush artwork and full commentary. Download on the App Store