益 → 艮

Commentary

Wind and thunder bestow increase, but the transformation leads to doubled mountain — the absolute stillness of Keeping Still. This is a rewritten verse; the original reads: 'Alone and isolated in a solitary place, with no one to rely upon for support; the heart labors and the will suffers.' A figure stands utterly alone, without companion or refuge, exhausting both body and spirit in a position no one chose and no one shares. The 'solitary place' is not retreat but abandonment — there is no community, no ally, no structure of mutual aid. From Increase to Keeping Still, the transformation is poignant: the twin mountains think not beyond their own position, and the stillness that should be contemplative becomes imprisoning. Increase offered to one who has no connections simply accumulates as unbearable weight upon a single, unsupported frame.