艮 → 頤
Hexagram 52: Keeping Still Mountain → Hexagram 27: Nourishment
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 1, 3).
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.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
八面九口，長舌為斧。劈破瑚璉，殷商絕後。
Eight faces, nine mouths; the long tongue serves as an axe. It cleaves the precious vessel; the house of Yin-Shang is cut off with no heir.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Twin mountains stand still, but the mouth does not. Eight faces with nine mouths — the long tongue serves as an axe, hacking apart the sacrificial jade vessel and severing the Shang lineage. The 'long tongue' is a classical image of slander from the Shijing, where wagging tongues destroy reputations and kingdoms. The huchuo (瑚璉) is a precious ritual jade of the ancestral temple, here smashed by malicious speech. The destruction of Yin-Shang's succession evokes the downfall brought by counselors with poisonous words. From Keeping Still to Nourishment, mountain yields to mountain above thunder — the mouth's proper use is careful speech and measured sustenance. This verse is its grotesque opposite: the mouth as weapon, nourishment perverted into annihilation.
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