艮 → 明夷
Hexagram 52: Keeping Still Mountain → Hexagram 36: Darkening of the Light
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 1, 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 6
上九 敦艮吉。
Nine at the top means: Noblehearted keeping still. Good fortune.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
諸石攻玉，无不穿鑿。龍體吾舉，魯班為輔。麟鳳成形，德象君子。
Many stones may fashion jade, nothing that cannot be pierced and carved. The dragon's form I raise aloft, Lu Ban as my aide. Qilin and phoenix take shape — virtue's image, a gentleman's emblem.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Twin mountains stand still, and from their stone, jade is shaped — no material resists the patient chisel. A dragon-bodied form is raised aloft, with Lu Ban himself assisting the work. Qilin and phoenix take shape in stone, their virtue mirroring the gentleman. Lu Ban, the legendary master carpenter, here lends his genius to sculpture rather than carpentry — crafting mythical beasts whose moral beauty transcends their material. From Keeping Still to Darkening of the Light, mountain yields to fire buried beneath the earth. Brilliance enters darkness. The verse's artisan works within the mountain itself, carving luminous forms that will endure even when the light above is extinguished. True craft preserves virtue through the darkest season.
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