艮 → 復
Hexagram 52: Keeping Still Mountain → Hexagram 24: Return
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 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 6
上九 敦艮吉。
Nine at the top means: Noblehearted keeping still. Good fortune.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
築關石顛，立本泉源。疾病不安，老狐為鄰。
Building a dam at the rocky summit, establishing the foundation at the spring's source. Illness brings no peace; the old fox becomes one's neighbor.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Twin mountains stand still as one builds a barrier at the stony ridge and establishes foundations at the headwater spring. But illness brings unrest, and the old fox becomes a neighbor. The verse pairs construction with decay: ramparts raised at the heights, waterworks set at the source, yet disease creeps in and a sinister creature settles nearby. The old fox is a classical omen of desolation — foxes inhabit ruins. From Keeping Still to Return, mountain yields to thunder stirring beneath the earth, the solstice moment when one yang line re-enters at the bottom. Return promises renewal, yet the verse warns that the ground must be cleared of its old fox before the first shoot of spring can safely emerge.
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