Hexagram 53: Development → Hexagram 52: Keeping Still Mountain

Development
Wind / Mountain
Keeping Still Mountain
Mountain / Mountain
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 1 changing line (line 5).

Line 5

九五 鴻漸于陵。婦三歲不孕。終莫之勝。吉。

hóngthe wild geese
jiàngradually advance
to
língthe foothills
the wife
sānis
suìyears
without
yùnconceiving
zhōngbut in the end
nothing
zhī^
shèngcan
promising

Nine in the fifth place means: The wild goose gradually draws near the summit. For three years the woman has no child. In the end nothing can hinder her. Good fortune.

Trigram Changes

Upper TrigramWind MountainThe Gentle → Keeping Still
Lower TrigramMountain Mountain

Yilin Verse

虎豹熊羆,遊戲山谷。仁賢君子,得其所欲。

Tigers, leopards, and bears roam at play in the mountain valley. The humane and worthy noble man obtains all that he desires.

— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE

Commentary

Wind over mountain transitions to doubled mountain: gradual development arrives at the profound stillness of Keeping Still. Tigers, leopards, and bears roam playfully through mountain valleys. The benevolent and worthy gentleman obtains what he desires. The great beasts are at ease in their natural habitat, neither hunting nor hunted, simply occupying their rightful terrain. From Development to Keeping Still, the wind that once urged growth now quiets entirely, and the twin mountains stand in perfect repose. The gentleman thinks not beyond his position. Gradual progress, having reached its destination, discovers that fulfillment lies not in further movement but in resting exactly where one belongs. The beasts play freely because the mountain holds them perfectly in place.

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