艮 → 震
Hexagram 52: Keeping Still Mountain → Hexagram 51: The Arousing Thunder
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 4, 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 4
六四 艮其身。无咎。
Six in the fourth place means: Keeping his trunk still. No blame.
Line 6
上九 敦艮吉。
Nine at the top means: Noblehearted keeping still. Good fortune.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
求利難國，亡去我北。憂歸其城，反為吾賊。
Seeking gain in the troubled state, fleeing north from my land. Returning in sorrow to that city, it turns and becomes my enemy.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Twin mountains stand still, but the pursuit of profit embroils a nation. One flees northward in worry, then returns to the city only to find that the returnee has become the enemy. The verse traces a circular trap: leaving home to seek gain, retreating in anxiety, returning to find oneself treated as a traitor. The journey was pointless; the homecoming is hostile. From Keeping Still to the Arousing, mountain yields to doubled thunder — shock upon shock. The Arousing terrifies but ultimately clarifies, like lightning that reveals the landscape. The verse's double reversal embodies this: the shock of discovering that one's own city has become dangerous is the thunder's first crack. Whether it leads to renewed awareness or final ruin depends on how one receives the shock.
The Six Lines app includes all 4,096 Yilin verses, each with original ink brush artwork and full commentary. Download on the App Store