否 → 遯
Hexagram 12: Standstill → Hexagram 33: Retreat
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 1 changing line (line 3).
Line 3
六三 包羞。
Six in the third place means: They bear shame.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
失恃母友,嘉偶出走;玃如失兔,傫如虐狗。
Losing the support of mother and friend; the good companion departs. Like an ape that lost its hare; downcast as a beaten dog.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Heaven and earth stand apart as one loses the support of mother and friend, and the beloved companion departs. Like a monkey that has lost its rabbit, one crouches beaten like an abused dog. From Standstill to Retreat, Pi's stagnation intensifies into the deliberate withdrawal of heaven rising above the mountain. Dun counsels strategic distancing from inferior forces, but the verse captures retreat's human cost: it is not elegant but wretched. The monkey losing its prey, the dog cowering under blows — these are not dignified withdrawals but desperate abandonments. Retreat as survival tactic can strip away every comfort and companion, leaving only the raw fact of escape. The gentleman retreats 'without hatred but with severity' — yet severity exacts its toll.
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