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Hexagram 52: Keeping Still
艮 · Gèn
Keeping his back still, so that he no longer feels his body — he goes into his courtyard and does not see his people. No blame.Judgment 卦辭
Mountains standing close together: the image of Keeping Still. The superior man does not permit his thoughts to go beyond his situation.Image 象辭
Core Meaning of Hexagram 52
Hexagram 52 is the mountain doubled — stillness as a spiritual practice. Its strange judgment describes profound meditation: the back so still the body disappears, the mind so collected it does not project onto others. Each thing stopping at its right place — thought not going beyond the situation — is the ethics of stillness: boundaries, presence, no leakage.
Hexagram 52 in a Reading
In a reading, stop — deliberately, completely, at the right point. Meditation, rest, silence, ending the day’s motion at the border of the day. Withdraw attention from others’ business (‘does not see his people’ — no blame) and from futures not yet real. In stillness the backlog of the soul processes itself. You are not doing nothing; you are becoming the mountain the situation needs.
Common Questions
What does hexagram 52 mean?
Hexagram 52 is the mountain doubled — stillness as a spiritual practice. Read the full meaning above, or cast your own reading with our free online I Ching coins.
What is the structure of hexagram 52?
Hexagram 52 is built from the trigram Mountain above and Mountain below — binary 001001 read from the bottom line to the top. Keeping Still is King Wen number 52 of the 64 hexagrams.
Related Hexagrams
Other Hexagrams with Trigram Mountain Above
Keywords: i ching hexagram 52, hexagram 52 meaning, keeping still, gen, mountain doubled, stillness, meditation, stopping at the right point, boundaries