Hexagram 52: Gen

Mountain over Mountain · 艮为山 · Tendency: Auspicious

Structure

• Number: 52 (King Wen sequence)
• Symbol: ䷳
• Upper trigram: Gen (Mountain)
• Lower trigram: Gen (Mountain)
• Lines: yin yin yang yin yin yang (bottom to top)

The statement

艮其背，不获其身，行其庭，不见其人，无咎。

——《周易》

What this hexagram indicates

This hexagram indicates that it is time to stop, first stabilizing boundaries and position. It is suitable for pausing impulses, sorting out thoughts, and reining in things that should not cross the line. Stopping does not mean a lack of progress, but avoiding a wrong step; wait until the timing is clear, then act more steadily.

A Buddhist reading

Gen (Stillness) is about stopping, but Zhixu first clears away a misunderstanding: motion and rest are not two substances, so stillness is already responsive and motion is already still. Stilling the back and not getting the body he reads as contemplation of the body: what is solid belongs to earth, what is moist to water, what is warm to fire, what moves to wind, and no real body is found anywhere among them; since no body is found, no person is found either, and stopping does not obstruct going. Thinking that does not leave its place, he adds, is neither withered quietism nor restless chasing.

After Ouyi Zhixu (1599-1655), whose Chan commentary on the Changes reads each hexagram as a stage of practice.

The statement is quoted from the Book of Changes, which is in the public domain. The English reading on this page was prepared for this library.

Related hexagrams

• Previous / Inverted: Hexagram 51: Zhenthe whole figure turned upside down
• Next: Hexagram 53: Jian
• Opposite: Hexagram 58: Duievery line changed to its opposite
• Nuclear: Hexagram 40: Xielines two to four below, three to five above

Related

• Liu Yao Divination ChartLiu Yao casts a hexagram about one specific matter and reads its structure. Unlike BaZi or Zi Wei, which describe a person, Liu Yao describes how a situation stands at a particular moment. This page walks through the full process from casting to attribution.
• Mei Hua Yi Shu CalculatorMei Hua Yi Shu is traditionally attributed to Shao Yong. What sets it apart is how freely it casts: a time, a spoken number, a direction or something noticed in passing will all serve. It attaches no stems and no relatives, reading the trigrams directly. This page covers casting through to the subject and object.