艮 → 比
Hexagram 52: Keeping Still Mountain → Hexagram 8: Holding Together
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 3, 5, 6).
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 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.
Line 6
上九 敦艮吉。
Nine at the top means: Noblehearted keeping still. Good fortune.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
高原峻山，陸土少泉。草木林麓，嘉禾所炎。
High plateau, steep mountain; the inland soil has few springs. Grass and trees line the foothills, yet fine grain is scorched there.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Twin mountains stand still upon high plateaus where springs are scarce. The terrain is elevated and dry — lofty ground with little water. Trees and forests blanket the foothills, but the fine grain scorches under drought. From Keeping Still to Holding Together, doubled mountain gives way to water above the earth, the image of union and mutual support. The verse captures the paradox: the mountain stands proud but cannot sustain growth alone. Its high plateau lacks the nourishing water that only flows when barriers are lowered. The transformation suggests that isolation, however majestic, starves the harvest. Only when the mountain yields and water spreads across the land can the community flourish.
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