萃 → 否
Hexagram 45: Gathering Together → Hexagram 12: Standstill
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 1 changing line (line 6).
Line 6
上六 齎咨涕洟。无咎。
Six at the top means: Lamenting and sighing, floods of tears. No blame.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
鹿畏人藏，俱入深谷。命短不長，為虎所得，死於牙腹。
The deer, fearing men, hides; together they plunge into the deep valley. Its fate cut short; seized by the tiger, it dies between fang and belly.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Lake upon earth transforms into heaven above earth, where communication ceases and Standstill prevails. A deer, fearing hunters, hides deep in the valley, but its life is short. The tiger finds it and devours it, death between fang and belly. The gathered community offers no protection when predator and prey inhabit the same space. The deer's retreat into the valley mirrors the futility of withdrawal without strength: deeper concealment only delays the inevitable. From Gathering to Standstill, the transformation is lethal: when heaven and earth cease exchanging, the weak are trapped in enclosed spaces with their destroyers. The deer that flees into the gorge has gathered itself into the tiger's hunting ground.
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