艮 → 鼎
Hexagram 52: Keeping Still Mountain → Hexagram 50: The Cauldron
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 2, 4).
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.
Line 4
六四 艮其身。无咎。
Six in the fourth place means: Keeping his trunk still. No blame.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
宛馬疾步，盲師坐御。目不見路，中宵弗到。
A fine horse of Wan gallops swiftly; a blind driver sits at the reins. Eyes cannot see the road; by midnight, the destination is not reached.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Twin mountains stand still as a fine horse from Wan gallops swiftly, but a blind charioteer sits at the reins. Eyes that cannot see the road ensure the destination is never reached by midnight. The pairing is deliberately absurd: an excellent horse, a terrible driver. Speed without guidance is worse than immobility. From Keeping Still to the Cauldron, mountain yields to fire above wind — the sacred vessel that transforms raw material into refined offering. The Cauldron demands precision: the right heat, the right timing, the right hands. The blind charioteer is the anti-Cauldron: powerful resources managed by incompetent leadership. The mountain's stillness would have been preferable to motion governed by blindness.
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