謙 → 遯
Hexagram 15: Modesty → Hexagram 33: Retreat
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 4, 5, 6).
Line 4
六四 无不利撝謙。
Six in the fourth place means: Nothing that would not further modesty In movement.
Line 5
六五 不富以其鄰。利用侵伐。无不利。
Six in the fifth place means: No boasting of wealth before one's neighbor. It is favorable to attack with force. Nothing that would not further.
Line 6
上六 鳴謙。利用行師。征邑國。
Six at the top means: Modesty that comes to expression. It is favorable to set armies marching To chastise one's own city and one's country.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
桃雀竊脂，巢於小枝；搖動不安，為風所吹；寒心慄慄，常憂殆危。
A sparrow pilfers grease, nesting on a slender branch. Shaking and never at rest; blown about by the wind. The heart is cold and trembling; always fearing peril and danger.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Earth holds the mountain still, but a sparrow that steals fat nests on a thin branch, swaying and unstable, blown about by the wind. Its heart is chilled with dread, always fearing danger. The thieving sparrow's precarious perch captures the anxiety of ill-gotten gains: stolen sustenance on an insecure foundation, constant terror of exposure. From Modesty to Retreat, heaven stands above the mountain — the noble one distances himself from petty people. The sparrow is precisely the petty creature that Retreat counsels avoiding: small, grasping, perched precariously on what cannot hold it. Modesty's mountain provides no stable roost for the greedy; the wind of heaven's withdrawal shakes them loose.
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