革 → 艮
Hexagram 49: Revolution → Hexagram 52: Keeping Still Mountain
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 4, 5, 6).
Line 1
初九 鞏用黃牛之革。
Nine at the beginning means: Wrapped in the hide of a yellow cow.
Line 4
九四 悔亡有孚。改命吉。
Nine in the fourth place means: Remorse disappears. Men believe him. Changing the form of government brings good fortune.
Line 5
九五 大人虎變。未占有孚。
Nine in the fifth place means: The great man changes like a tiger. Even before he questions the oracle He is believed.
Line 6
上六 君子豹變。小人革面。征凶。居貞吉。
Six at the top means: The superior man changes like a panther. The inferior man molts in the face. Starting brings misfortune. To remain persevering brings good fortune.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
灼火泉原，釣魴山巔。魚不可得，炭不可燃。
Lighting a fire at the spring's source, angling for bream on the mountaintop. The fish cannot be caught; the charcoal cannot be burned.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Fire within the lake yields to doubled mountain — Keeping Still, where everything halts at its proper boundary. One tries to build a fire at a spring's source and fish for bream on a mountaintop. The fish cannot be caught; the charcoal cannot ignite. Every action here is categorically wrong: fire and water, fish and summit, are placed where they cannot function. Keeping Still's wisdom is knowing where to stop, but this verse illustrates the folly of not knowing where to start. From Revolution to Keeping Still, the transformation warns that after upheaval, misdirected effort is worse than no effort at all. The mountain stands still because it knows its place — these attempts fail because they do not.
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