Hexagram 52: Gèn (Keeping Still)

The Judgment

When one's resting is like that of the back, and he loses all consciousness of self; when he walks in his courtyard, and does not see any (of the persons) in it,--there will be no error.

艮：艮其背，不获其身，行其庭，不见其人，无咎。

Commentary on the Judgment (Tuan)

Gen denotes stopping or resting; - resting when it is the time to rest, and acting when it is the time to act. When one's movements and restings all take place at the proper time for them, his way (of proceeding) is brilliant and intelligent. Resting in one's resting-point is resting in one's proper place. The upper and lower (lines of the hexagram) exactly correspond to each other, but are without any interaction; hence it is said that '(the subject of the hexagram) has no consciousness of self; that when he walks in his courtyard, he does not see (any of) the persons in it; and that there will be no error.'

彖曰：艮，止也。时止则止，时行则行，动静不失其时，其道光明。艮其止，止其所也。上下敌应，不相与也。是以不获其身，行其庭不见其人，无咎也。

The Great Image

(Two trigrams representing) a mountain, one over the other, form Gen. The superior man, in accordance with this, does not go in his thoughts beyond the (duties of the) position in which he is.

象曰：兼山，艮；君子以思不出其位。

The six lines

1. Line 1 (first): The first SIX, divided, shows its subject keeping his toes at rest. There will be no error; but it will be advantageous for him to be persistently firm and correct.

   'He keeps his toes at rest:' - he does not fail in what is correct (according to the idea of the figure).

   In plain words: Keeping the toes still: no fault; it is favourable to be steadfast for the long term. This hexagram uses the body to show stages of stillness; the first line is at the bottom, stopping at the very start, before straying from the right way. The Small Image says it has not lost what is right.

   初六：艮其趾，无咎，利永贞。 象曰：艮其趾，未失正也。

2. Line 2 (second): The second SIX, divided, shows its subject keeping the calves of his legs at rest. He cannot help (the subject of the line above) whom he follows, and is dissatisfied in his mind.

   'He cannot help him whom he follows:'(he whom he follows) will not retreat to listen to him.

   In plain words: Keeping the calves still, but unable to save the one it follows: the heart is not glad. The calf moves with the thigh. The second line is central and correct and can stop itself, but the third line it follows is too hard to stop, and it cannot help it. The Small Image says the third line will not step back and listen.

   六二：艮其腓，不拯其随，其心不快。 象曰：不拯其随，未退听也。

3. Line 3 (third): The third NINE, undivided, shows its subject keeping his loins at rest, and separating the ribs (from the body below). The situation is perilous, and the heart glows with suppressed excitement.

   'He keeps the loins at rest:' - the danger (from his doing so) produces a glowing, heat in the heart.

   In plain words: Keeping the waist still, tearing the flesh along the back: danger smoulders in the heart. The third line sits between the upper and lower parts and forces itself to a stop, splitting them apart. The Small Image says danger scorches the heart.

   九三：艮其限，列其夤，厉熏心。 象曰：艮其限，危薰心也。

4. Line 4 (fourth): The fourth SIX, divided, shows its subject keeping his trunk at rest. There will be no error.

   'He keeps the trunk of his body at rest:' - he keeps himself free (from agitation).

   In plain words: Keeping the trunk still: no fault. The fourth line is yielding and correct, entering the upper trigram; it keeps itself in check and does not act rashly. The Small Image says it stops in its own person.

   六四：艮其身，无咎。 象曰：艮其身，止诸躬也。

5. Line 5 (fifth): S. The fifth SIX, divided, shows its subject keeping his jawbones at rest, so that his words are (all) orderly. Occasion for repentance will disappear.

   'He keeps his cheek bones at rest:' - in harmony with his central position he acts correctly.

   In plain words: Keeping the jaws still: speech is orderly, and regret vanishes. The jaws stand for speech. The fifth line is central, and its words have measure. The Small Image says this is because it is central and correct.

   六五：艮其辅，言有序，悔亡。 象曰：艮其辅，以中正也。

6. Line 6 (sixth (top)): The sixth NINE, undivided, shows its subject devotedly maintaining his restfulness. There will be good fortune.

   'There is good fortune through his devotedly maintaining his restfulness:' - to the end he shows himself generous and good.

   In plain words: Generous stillness: good fortune. The top line is at the end of the hexagram, the fulfilment of the whole practice of stillness: not a forced stop, but a generous, solid ease in resting where one should. The Small Image says it ends well through generosity.

   上九：敦艮，吉。 象曰：敦艮之吉，以厚终也。

Line positions

3 of the six lines stand in their proper place (strong lines in odd places, weak lines in even places).

The second and fifth lines hold the central places of the lower and upper trigrams; both are weak, so they do not correspond.

Of the three pairs of corresponding places (first and fourth, second and fifth, third and top), 0 pairs are made of one strong and one weak line.

Strong lines belong in odd places and weak lines in even places; the second and fifth are the central places; first and fourth, second and fifth, third and top correspond, and they "respond" when one is strong and the other weak.

These are structural conventions, not scores of good or bad fortune. Commentators differ: Wang Bi treats the first and top places as beginning and end without fixed yin or yang positions. Read each line with its Small Image and the whole hexagram.

Place in Jing Fang's eight palaces

Jing Fang grouped the 64 hexagrams into eight "palaces" of eight, each headed by a doubled trigram. Changing the lines of the head hexagram one by one from the bottom gives the next five; the last two are the "wandering soul" and "returning soul" hexagrams. The Gen palace runs: Gèn (head), Bì (1st change), Dà Chù (2nd change), Sǔn (3rd change), Kuí (4th change), Lǚ (5th change), Zhōng Fú (wandering soul), Jiàn (returning soul).

A recorded case from Takashima

Gen to Gu: whether to halt a mine: Takashima's friend Ishizaka asked about his mine and received the second line of Gen, "keeping the calves still; unable to help the one he follows; his heart is not glad". From "the calf" Takashima placed the ore at the back of the mountain, low on the slope; he added that someone was pushing to halt work and the others could not stop it, so it was best to step back and wait about three years, until the fifth line, for help to revive it.

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English text: James Legge, The Yi King (Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16, 1882), public domain, as transcribed by the Chinese Text Project. Chinese: the received text. Offered for study and reflection, not as prediction.

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