泰 → 遯
Hexagram 11: Peace → Hexagram 33: Retreat
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 5 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 4, 5, 6).
Line 1
初九 拔茅茹。以其彙。征吉。
Nine at the beginning means: When ribbon grass is pulled up, the sod comes with it. Each according to his kind. Undertakings bring good fortune.
Line 2
九二 包荒。用馮河。不遐遺。朋亡。得尚于中行。
Nine in the second place means: Bearing with the uncultured in gentleness, Fording the river with resolution, Not neglecting what is distant, Not regarding one's companions: Thus one may manage to walk in the middle.
Line 4
六四 翩翩。不富以其鄰。不戒以孚。
Six in the fourth place means: He flutters down, not boasting of his wealth, Together with his neighbor, Guileless and sincere.
Line 5
六五 帝乙歸妹。以祉元吉。
Six in the fifth place means: The sovereign I Gives his daughter in marriage. This brings blessing And supreme good fortune.
Line 6
上六 城復于隍。勿用師。自邑告命。貞吝。
Six at the top means: The wall falls back into the moat. Use no army now. Make your commands known within your own town. Perseverance brings humiliation.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
右撫劍頭，左受鉤帶；凶訟不止，相與爭戾。失利市肆。
Right hand grips the sword's pommel; left receives the belt hook. Fierce litigation will not cease; they contend in mutual strife. Profit is lost in the marketplace.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Earth above heaven, Peace dissolves into armed discord. The right hand grips a sword pommel while the left clutches a hooked belt-buckle — a posture of readiness for violence. Fierce litigation continues without cease, adversaries locked in mutual hostility. Trade and profit are lost in the chaos. The verse paints a marketplace turned battlefield: what should be a place of civil exchange becomes a theater of threats and lawsuits. From Peace to Retreat, heaven rises above the mountain, the gentleman distances himself from petty men. The transformation prescribes withdrawal as the only viable response: when commerce itself becomes combat, the wise do not fight — they leave.
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