艮 → 隨
Hexagram 52: Keeping Still Mountain → Hexagram 17: Following
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 5 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 4, 5, 6).
Line 1
初六 艮其趾。无咎。利永貞。
Six at the beginning means: Keeping his toes still. No blame. Continued perseverance furthers.
Line 3
九三 艮其限。列其夤。厲熏心。
Nine in the third place means: Keeping his hips still. Making his sacrum stiff. Dangerous. The heart suffocates.
Line 4
六四 艮其身。无咎。
Six in the fourth place means: Keeping his trunk still. No blame.
Line 5
六五 艮其輔。言有序。悔亡。
Six in the fifth place means: Keeping his jaws still. The words have order. Remorse disappears.
Line 6
上九 敦艮吉。
Nine at the top means: Noblehearted keeping still. Good fortune.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
陰升陽伏，舜失其室。慈母赤子，相餧不食。
Yin ascends, yang lies hidden; Shun lost his household. A loving mother and her suckling child — they feed one another yet neither eats.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Twin mountains stand still as yin rises and yang retreats — Shun loses his household. A devoted mother feeds her infant, yet the child refuses to eat. The verse alludes to Emperor Shun's troubled domestic life: despite his legendary virtue, his father Gu Sou and stepmother repeatedly tried to kill him. According to tradition, Shun 'lost his household' because filial devotion could not dissolve the hostility within his own family. The nursing scene intensifies the pathos: even the most natural bond — mother and child — is disrupted. From Keeping Still to Following, mountain yields to lake above thunder. Following requires yielding to the moment, but when the household itself is poisoned, following only leads deeper into sorrow.
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