臨 → 遯
Hexagram 19: Approach → Hexagram 33: Retreat
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 6 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6).
Line 1
初九 咸臨貞吉。
Nine at the beginning means: Joint approach. Perseverance brings good fortune.
Line 2
九二 咸臨吉。无不利。
Nine in the second place means: Joint approach. Good fortune. Everything furthers.
Line 3
六三 甘臨。无攸利。既憂之。无咎。
Six in the third place means: Comfortable approach. Nothing that would further. If one is induced to grieve over it, One becomes free of blame.
Line 4
六四 至臨。无咎。
Six in the fourth place means: Complete approach. No blame.
Line 5
六五 知臨。大君之宜。吉。
Six in the fifth place means: Wise approach. This is right for a great prince. Good fortune.
Line 6
上六 敦臨。吉。无咎。
Six at the top means: Greathearted approach. Good fortune. No blame.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
八百諸侯，不期同時；慕西文德，興我宗族。家門雍雍。
Eight hundred lords, unplanned, arrive at the same hour; drawn to the virtue of King Wen, they raise our clan anew. The household is harmonious and warm.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Earth above the lake ascends to heaven beneath the mountain — the strategic withdrawal of Retreat. Eight hundred feudal lords gathered unbidden at the same moment, drawn by the virtue of King Wen in the west. Through his moral authority, the royal lineage flourished and the household gate hummed with harmony. According to tradition, the feudal lords assembled at the Mengjin Ford before King Wu's campaign against Shang, but they came voluntarily, attracted by Zhou's accumulated virtue rather than by military summons. From Approach to Retreat, the paradox is exquisite: the greatest gathering occurs precisely because the sage-king withdrew from confrontation. Heaven beneath the mountain retreats, yet its moral gravity draws the world toward it without a single command being issued.
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