Hexagram 27: Nourishment → Hexagram 33: Retreat

Nourishment
Mountain / Thunder
Retreat
Heaven / Mountain
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 4, 5).

Line 1

初九 舍爾靈龜。觀我朶頤。凶。

shěforsake
ěryour
língspirit
guītortoise
guānand
me
duǒhanging open
with hungry mouth
xiōngunfortunate

Nine at the beginning means: You let your magic tortoise go, And look at me with the corners of your mouth drooping. Misfortune.

Line 3

六三 拂頤。貞凶。十年勿用。无攸利。

dismissing
the hungry mouth
zhēnpersistence
xiōngis unfortunate
shífor ten
niányears
not to be
yònguseful
this is no
yōua direction
with merit

Six in the third place means: Turning away from nourishment. Perseverance brings misfortune. Do not act thus for ten years. Nothing serves to further.

Line 4

六四 顛頤。吉。虎視眈眈。其欲逐逐。无咎。

diānabnormal
appetite
is promising
the tiger
shìlooks
dānstaring
dānand staring
with its own
passion
zhúis to hunt
zhúand give chase
but no
jiùblame

Six in the fourth place means: Turning to the summit For provision of nourishment Brings good fortune. Spying about with sharp eyes Like a tiger with insatiable craving. No blame.

Line 5

六五 拂經。居貞吉。不可涉大川。

dismissing
jīngthe norms
to practice
zhēnpersistence
is promising
but one is not
suited
shèto
the great
chuānstream

Six in the fifth place means: Turning away from the path. To remain persevering brings good fortune. One should not cross the great water.

Trigram Changes

Upper TrigramMountain HeavenKeeping Still → The Creative
Lower TrigramThunder MountainThe Arousing → Keeping Still

Yilin Verse

豶豕童牛,童傷不來。三女同堂,生我福人。

A gelded boar, a hornless ox; the horn broken, it does not come. Three daughters share one hall; they give birth to my blessed child.

— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE

Commentary

Mountain over thunder shifts to heaven over mountain — Retreat, where the gentleman distances himself from the petty. A gelded boar and a hornless bull — their aggressive potential has been tamed, and harm does not approach. Three daughters share one hall and give birth to one who brings blessing. The castrated boar and dehorned bull are images drawn from the I-Ching's own Da Xu hexagram: restraining fierce natures by removing their weapons. From Nourishment to Retreat, the transformation domesticates: the wild appetites that nourishment must manage are literally disarmed. What remains is the fertile household — three daughters producing blessings — achieved precisely by withdrawing aggressive energy from the scene.

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