Hexagram 52: Keeping Still Mountain → Hexagram 18: Work on the Decayed

Keeping Still Mountain
Mountain / Mountain
Work on the Decayed
Mountain / Wind
Changing LinesStable Lines

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。

gènstillness
in one's own
féicalves
this does
zhěnghelping
in
suípursuits
this one's
xīnheart
is not
kuàihappy

Six in the second place means: Keeping his calves still. He cannot rescue him whom he follows. His heart is not glad.

Trigram Changes

Upper TrigramMountain Mountain
Lower TrigramMountain WindKeeping Still → The Gentle

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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