艮 → 漸
Hexagram 52: Keeping Still Mountain → Hexagram 53: Development
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 1 changing line (line 5).
Line 5
六五 艮其輔。言有序。悔亡。
Six in the fifth place means: Keeping his jaws still. The words have order. Remorse disappears.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
比目四翼，安我邦國。上下无患，為吾喜福。
Paired eyes, four wings; they bring peace to our realm. Above and below, no affliction — this is our joy and blessing.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Twin mountains stand still, sheltering paired-eye fish and shared-wing birds that bring peace to the nation. Above and below are free from trouble; these creatures become a source of joyous blessing. The 'bimu' fish and 'siyi' birds are mythological creatures that can only function in pairs — one-eyed fish that swim together, one-winged birds that fly as one. They symbolize perfect complementarity and inseparable partnership. From Keeping Still to Development, mountain yields to wind above the mountain — the tree growing gradually on the hillside. Development proceeds step by step, each stage building on the last. The verse's paired creatures embody this gradual progress: not solitary brilliance but cooperative growth, each half completing the other as the tree climbs the slope.
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