Hexagram 52: Keeping Still
艮Gèn
Still as a mountain, mind at home.
The passages below are historical language. Their references to fortune, danger, and the exemplary person belong to the text’s world. Our modern explanation is an invitation to reflect on your situation.
The Judgment
Classical Chinese
艮。 艮其背，不獲其身。行其庭，不見其人。無咎。
Our English rendering
Keeping Still. Holding the back still, one does not perceive the body. Walking in the courtyard, one does not see its people. No blame.
The Image
Classical Chinese
象曰：兼山，艮。君子以思不出其位。
Our English rendering
Mountains stand together: Keeping Still. A person of integrity keeps thought within the bounds of their position.
Translation note: The phrase about not perceiving the body is elusive; its literal wording concerns not finding or grasping one's body. The rendering preserves the unusual image without turning it into a prescribed meditation method.
A modern reading
Two mountains give stillness a shape with definite edges. The Judgment's stranger images, a back held still and people unseen in a courtyard, suggest a withdrawal from the usual pull of self and surroundings. They leave the experience open rather than explaining a technique. A modern reflection might begin with stopping long enough to notice where attention keeps being drawn, and whether every demand around you needs an immediate response from you.
The Image locates thought within the bounds of a person's position. That can raise a practical question about responsibility: which part of a situation belongs to your care, and where your knowledge or authority ends. Remaining with a defined task may make it possible to see it more clearly. Stillness can also give space to acknowledge a limit without inventing an answer to everything happening beyond it. The boundary makes sustained attention possible.
A question to sit with
What falls within your responsibility right now, and what can you allow to remain outside your attention for a while?
Source and method
The Judgment and Image are classical passages from the Book of Changes. The English rendering and modern explanation are Meow Ching’s editorial work. This page covers these two passages; it does not translate the six individual line texts.
Read the classical text on Wikisource · Our sources and method