Hexagram 52, line 6
上九Line 6 of Stillness (Mountain)
Nine at the top · 艮 gèn
爻辭 The line text
敦艮，吉。The sixth line, undivided, shows its subject devotedly maintaining his restfulness. There will be good fortune.
敦艮之吉，以厚終也。'There is good fortune through his devotedly maintaining his restfulness:'—to the end he shows himself generous and good.
In plain words
'Generous stillness; auspicious.' Line six is yang at the very top of the doubled mountain, and it is the only line in the hexagram that is simply good. 敦 is thick, honest, generous: a stillness that is not clenched but settled, the mountain's own quality. The small Image says 以厚終也 — it ends in thickness, in substance. Most hexagrams go to excess at the top; Gen, whose whole nature is to stop, reaches its proper end here. This is the line of the person who has learned to stop so completely that stopping has become steadiness of character, not an act.
If this line is changing
Rest in the stillness you have reached and be generous from it; this is an ending that holds, and nothing more needs to be done to secure it.
Where the line stands
- A solid line, yang — written 九 (nine), the number of an old yang line that moves when cast.
- It is not in its correct place (不當位): a yang line in an even position or a yin line in an odd one, which the tradition reads as a line under some strain — often the reason a text sounds a warning.
- It belongs to the upper trigram 艮 Gen (Keeping Still) (mountain).
- It has no correspondence (無應) with line 3: 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 ䷎ 15 謙 Humility
A mountain hidden within the earth: greatness that stays low. The only hexagram whose six lines all turn out well — humility succeeds, and the superior person carries things through to the end.
What it becomes15 · 謙 HumilityqiānThe 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 at the top of hexagram 52, Stillness (Mountain), mean?
- 'Generous stillness; auspicious.' Line six is yang at the very top of the doubled mountain, and it is the only line in the hexagram that is simply good. 敦 is thick, honest, generous: a stillness that is not clenched but settled, the mountain's own quality. The small Image says 以厚終也 — it ends in thickness, in substance. Most hexagrams go to excess at the top; Gen, whose whole nature is to stop, reaches its proper end here. This is the line of the person who has learned to stop so completely that stopping has become steadiness of character, not an act.
- What does hexagram 52 become when line 6 changes?
- Stillness (Mountain) becomes hexagram 15, 謙 Humility: A mountain hidden within the earth: greatness that stays low. The only hexagram whose six lines all turn out well — humility succeeds, and the superior person carries things through to the end.
- Is line 6 of Stillness (Mountain) in its correct place?
- It is not in its correct place (不當位): a yang line in an even position or a yin line in an odd one, which the tradition reads as a line under some strain — often the reason a text sounds a warning.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi (Wuyingdian lineage). English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East XVI, 1882 (public domain).