艮 → 豐
Hexagram 52: Keeping Still Mountain → Hexagram 55: Abundance
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 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 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
稍弊穿空,家莫為宗。奴婢逃走,子西父東,為身作凶。
Gradually worn through, pierced with holes; the household has no head. Servants and slaves flee; the son goes west, the father east — bringing ruin upon themselves.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Twin mountains stand still, but the household is falling apart at the seams. Things fray and develop holes; the family lacks a proper head. Servants flee; sons scatter west while fathers drift east, each bringing ruin upon themselves. The verse is domestic disintegration at its most visceral: the physical structure decays while its inhabitants disperse in every direction. From Keeping Still to Abundance, mountain yields to thunder above fire — the overwhelming fullness of lightning and thunder arriving simultaneously. Abundance should mean plenitude, but the verse presents its dark inversion: when the household has no center, even abundance becomes chaos. Thunder and fire without a structure to contain them are not prosperity but conflagration. The mountain that should have anchored the family has crumbled.
The Six Lines app includes all 4,096 Yilin verses, each with original ink brush artwork and full commentary. Download on the App Store