Hexagram 52, line 3
九三Line 3 of Stillness (Mountain)
Nine in the third place · 艮 gèn
爻辭 The line text
艮其限，列其夤，厲熏心。The third line, 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.
艮其限，危熏心也。'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; the spine is split apart; danger smokes the heart.' Line three is yang in a yang place at the top of the lower mountain, the hinge of the body — and it has locked. 限 is the waist, the boundary between upper and lower; 列其夤 is the back muscle torn along the spine. This is stillness imposed by force on the one part that must stay flexible, and the result is 厲薰心: the strain smoulders inside. The small Image repeats the phrase as 危薰心也 — danger smoking the heart. Zhu Xi reads it as the person who stops what should not be stopped and is consumed by the effort.
If this line is changing
You are holding something still that is meant to bend, and the strain is going inward; loosen the one joint you have clamped before the heat does more damage than the movement would have.
Where the line stands
- A solid line, yang — written 九 (nine), the number of an old yang line that moves when cast.
- It is in its correct place (當位): a yang line in an odd position or a yin line in an even one, which the tradition reads as a line at ease where it stands.
- It belongs to the lower trigram 艮 Gen (Keeping Still) (mountain).
- It has no correspondence (無應) with line 6: both lines are yang, so this line must find its support in its neighbours or in itself.
之卦 When this line moves
艮 Stillness (Mountain) becomes ䷖ 23 剝 Peeling Away
The mountain worn down by the earth beneath: yin has grown until one yang line remains at the top. Not a time to go anywhere; the structure is peeling away.
What it becomes23 · 剝 Peeling AwaybōThe six lines of 艮 Stillness (Mountain)
- 初六Six at the beginningstill toes · before moving · lasting firmness
- 六二Six in the second placestill calves · cannot rescue · unheard
- 九三Nine in the third placethe loins · rigid stop · scorched heart
- 六四Six in the fourth placethe trunk · self-contained · no blame
- 六五Six in the fifth placethe jaws · ordered speech · regret gone
- 上九Nine at the topgenerous stillness · the summit · a good end
Read 艮 Stillness (Mountain) for a question about
Questions about this line
- What does Nine in the third place of hexagram 52, Stillness (Mountain), mean?
- 'Keeping the waist still; the spine is split apart; danger smokes the heart.' Line three is yang in a yang place at the top of the lower mountain, the hinge of the body — and it has locked. 限 is the waist, the boundary between upper and lower; 列其夤 is the back muscle torn along the spine. This is stillness imposed by force on the one part that must stay flexible, and the result is 厲薰心: the strain smoulders inside. The small Image repeats the phrase as 危薰心也 — danger smoking the heart. Zhu Xi reads it as the person who stops what should not be stopped and is consumed by the effort.
- What does hexagram 52 become when line 3 changes?
- Stillness (Mountain) becomes hexagram 23, 剝 Peeling Away: The mountain worn down by the earth beneath: yin has grown until one yang line remains at the top. Not a time to go anywhere; the structure is peeling away.
- Is line 3 of Stillness (Mountain) in its correct place?
- It is in its correct place (當位): a yang line in an odd position or a yin line in an even one, which the tradition reads as a line at ease where it stands.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi (Wuyingdian lineage). English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East XVI, 1882 (public domain).