蠱 → 遯
Hexagram 18: Work on the Decayed → Hexagram 33: Retreat
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 2, 4, 5).
Line 2
九二 幹母之蠱。不可貞。
Nine in the second place means: Setting right what has been spoiled by the mother. One must not be too persevering.
Line 4
六四 裕父之蠱。往見吝。
Six in the fourth place means: Tolerating what has been spoiled by the father. In continuing one sees humiliation.
Line 5
六五 幹父之蠱。用譽。
Six in the fifth place means: Setting right what has been spoiled by the father. One meets with praise.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
四馬過隙，時難再得；尼父孔聖，繫而不食。
Four horses flash past a gap -- the moment cannot be recaptured. Confucius the sage was tethered and could not eat.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Wind beneath the mountain lets time slip past, and the transformation opens into heaven above the mountain — the strategic withdrawal of Retreat. Four horses flash through a crack in the wall — time, once lost, cannot be recovered. Father Ni, the sage Confucius, was offered a position but declined the meal — bound by principle, he could not eat what was given under false pretenses. The four-horse metaphor for fleeting time comes from Confucius himself. His refusal to eat echoes his hardship between Chen and Cai, where he maintained integrity despite starvation. From Work on the Decayed to Retreat, wisdom lies in knowing when to withdraw. Heaven above the mountain creates distance from petty entanglements — the gentleman retreats not from cowardice but from clarity.
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