艮 → 蠱
Hexagram 52: Keeping Still Mountain → Hexagram 18: Work on the Decayed
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 1 changing line (line 2).
Line 2
六二 艮其腓。不拯其隨。其心不快。
Six in the second place means: Keeping his calves still. He cannot rescue him whom he follows. His heart is not glad.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
七竅龍身,造易八元。法則天地,順時施恩,利以長存。
Seven-orificed dragon body, creator of the Changes and the eight primal forces. Taking heaven and earth as model, bestowing grace in accord with the seasons, profit endures forever.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Twin mountains stand still, and a seven-orificed dragon body fashions the Yi through the Eight Primal Forces. The laws model heaven and earth; blessings are dispensed in accordance with the seasons, and all endures. The 'seven orifices' likely allude to a sage or dragon-like figure — perhaps Fu Xi, who observed heaven and earth to create the trigrams. The 'eight yuan' may reference the eight trigrams or the Eight Worthies of antiquity. From Keeping Still to Work on the Decayed, mountain above yields to wind beneath the mountain, the image of stirring stagnation through renewal. The verse presents the original act of cosmic ordering: from absolute stillness, a sage discerns the pattern and reforms what has decayed, ensuring long survival.
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