Keeping Still
- In Chinese
- 艮 gèn
- Above
- Keeping Still, mountain
- Below
- Keeping Still, mountain
Did you get this hexagram?
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Mark my castWhat hexagram 52 means
Hexagram 52 is the mountain doubled. It stands for stillness, and for knowing when to stop.
The commentary on the judgment says it in one line. It is “resting when it is the time to rest, and acting when it is the time to act”.
The judgment carries no warning. For the one who rests like the back, Legge has “there will be no error”.
The judgment and the image
The judgment
艮其背，不獲其身，行其庭，不見其人，无咎。
KEEPING STILL. Keeping his back still So that he no longer feels his body. He goes into his courtyard And does not see his people. No blame.
no blame there is no mistake in it
The image
兼山，《艮》。君子以思不出其位。
Mountains standing close together: The image of KEEPING STILL. Thus the superior man Does not permit his thoughts To go beyond his situation.
What the commentaries say
Legge explains why the judgment speaks of the back. Other parts of the body reach outward, but “The back alone has nothing to do with anything beyond itself”.
He is careful to say that this is not withdrawal. The person of the hexagram “is not a recluse, however, who keeps aloof from social life”.
The image is one mountain over another. The commentary draws from it a rule of attention. The superior man “does not go in his thoughts beyond the (duties of the) position in which he is”.
The mountain has two sides in Legge's reading. Mountains rest, and “they serve also to arrest the onward progress of the traveller”.
The six lines climb the body from the toes to the jaws. Legge notes that “the author rises from one part of the body to the other”.
The six lines
First line
艮其趾，无咎。利永貞。
Keeping his toes still. No blame. Continued perseverance furthers.
no blame there is no mistake in itit furthers it is favorable
Stillness begins at the toes, before any step is taken. Legge reads the lesson that “from the first men should rest in, and be anxious to do, what is right”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 22, Grace
Second line
艮其腓，不拯其隨，其心不快。
Keeping his calves still. He cannot rescue him whom he follows. His heart is not glad.
no verdict
The calves stop, but the one they follow does not. The text says “He cannot help (the subject of the line above) whom he follows”, and Legge adds that “there results dissatisfaction”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 18, Repairing What Was Spoiled
Third line
艮其限，列其夤，厲薰心。
Keeping his hips still. Making his sacrum stiff. Dangerous. The heart suffocates.
danger there is danger
Here stillness is forced on the middle of the body, and the text calls the situation “perilous”. Legge explains that “the connexion between the upper and lower parts of the body is then broken”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 23, Splitting Apart
Fourth line
艮其身，无咎。
Keeping his trunk still. No blame.
no blame there is no mistake in it
The trunk is at rest and the text finds no error. The commentary says the person “keeps himself free (from agitation)”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 56, The Wanderer
Fifth line
艮其輔，言有序，悔亡。
Keeping his jaws still. The words have order. Remorse disappears.
remorse disappears regret fades away
Stillness reaches speech. The jaws rest “so that his words are (all) orderly”, and the text adds that “Occasion for repentance will disappear”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 53, Development
Sixth line
敦艮，吉。
Noblehearted keeping still. Good fortune.
good fortune it goes well
The top line is the mountain itself, and it is the one line with good fortune. Its subject is “devotedly maintaining his restfulness”, which Legge calls resting “in the highest style”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 15, Modesty
Hexagram 52 unchanging
If none of your six lines is moving, you read the hexagram as a whole. That is the judgment and the image above, without any of the line texts.
The book gives the reason. Lines that do not move are “non-moving lines, which serve only as structural matter in the hexagram, without intrinsic meaning of their own”.
For hexagram 52 unchanging, what remains is the stillness of the judgment, which is without error, and the image that keeps thought within one's own position.
Questions people ask
What does hexagram 52 mean?
It stands for stillness and for stopping at the right moment. The commentary calls it “resting when it is the time to rest, and acting when it is the time to act”.
What does hexagram 52 unchanging mean?
With no moving lines you read only the judgment and the image. For hexagram 52 that is stillness without error, and thought kept within one's own position.
What does hexagram 52 changing to 23 mean?
It is hexagram 52 with its third line moving. That line shows stillness forced on the loins, in a situation the text calls “perilous”, and when it changes the hexagram becomes number 23.
Richard Wilhelm, translated by Cary F. Baynes. Kăn in James Legge. Keeping Still, Mountain in Wilhelm and Baynes.
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