鼎 → 艮
Hexagram 50: The Cauldron → Hexagram 52: Keeping Still Mountain
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 2, 4).
Line 2
九二 鼎有實。我仇有疾。不我能即。吉。
Nine in the second place means: There is food in the ting. My comrades are envious, But they cannot harm me. Good fortune.
Line 4
九四 鼎折足。覆公餗。其形渥。凶。
Nine in the fourth place means: The legs of the ting are broken. The prince's meal is spilled And his person is soiled. Misfortune. A man has a difficult and responsible task to which he is not adequate. Moreover, he does not devote himself to it with all his strength but goes about with inferior people; therefore the execution of the work fails. In this way he also incurs personal opprobrium. Confucius says about this line: "Weak character coupled with honored place, meager knowledge with large plans, limited powers with heavy responsibility, will seldom escape disaster. "
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
禹召諸侯，會稽南山。執玉萬國，天下康安。
Yu summoned the lords, assembling at Kuaiji on the southern mountain. Ten thousand states presented jade; all under heaven was tranquil and at peace.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Fire over wind fills the cauldron; twin mountains hold perfectly still. Yu the Great summoned the feudal lords to Mount Kuaiji in the south. Ten thousand states came bearing jade tribute tablets, and all under heaven rested in peace and safety. According to tradition, Yu assembled the lords at Kuaiji to establish the calendar and confirm the territorial order — the foundational act of civilized governance. The jade tablets signified submission and mutual trust between sovereign and vassal. From The Cauldron to Keeping Still, the transformation achieves consummate order through stillness. The cauldron has finished its work; the doubled mountain holds firm. What was refined and offered now solidifies into institutional permanence — the empire at rest because authority has been properly fixed in place.
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