King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Hexagram 52 艮 changing to hexagram 54 歸妹

gěn
→
guī mèi

Changing lines (counted from the bottom): 1, 2, 3, 4, 6.

What to read

Five changing lines: read the one unchanged line of the resulting hexagram. (Rule set out by Zhu Xi in the Yixue qimeng.)

Hexagram 54 歸妹, line 5

帝乙歸妹,其君之袂,不如其娣之袂良,月幾望,吉。

The fifth line, divided, reminds us of the marrying of the younger sister of (king) Ti-yi, when the sleeves of her the princess were not equal to those of the (still) younger sister who accompanied her in an inferior capacity. (The case suggests the thought of) the moon almost full. There will be good fortune.

The two hexagrams

Hexagram 52 艮 — judgment

艮其背,不獲其身,行其庭,不見其人,无咎。

When one's resting is like that of the back, Kăn 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.

Hexagram 54 歸妹 — judgment

征凶,无攸利。

Kwei Mei indicates that (under the conditions which it denotes) action will be evil, and in no wise advantageous.

The changing lines of hexagram 52

LineChineseLegge
1艮其趾,无咎,利永貞。The first line, 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.
2艮其腓,不拯其隨,其心不快。The second line, 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.
3艮其限,裂其夤,厲閽心。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.
4艮其身,无咎。The fourth line, divided, shows its subject keeping his trunk at rest. There will be no error.
6敦艮,吉。The sixth line, undivided, shows its subject devotedly maintaining his restfulness. There will be good fortune.

English: James Legge (1882), public domain. Chinese: Zhou Yi.

Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0); Chinese Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.