離 → 遯
Hexagram 30: The Clinging Fire → Hexagram 33: Retreat
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 1, 5).
Line 1
初九 履錯然。敬之。无咎。
Nine at the beginning means: The footprints run crisscross. If one is seriously intent, no blame.
Line 5
六五 出涕沱若。戚嗟若。吉。
Six in the fifth place means: Tears in floods, sighing and lamenting. Good fortune.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
三貍搏鼠，遮遏前後，無於圜域，不得脫走。
Three wildcats hunt the mouse; blocking and trapping front and rear. Within the walled enclosure; it cannot escape and flee.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Doubled fire meets heaven above the mountain: brilliance cannot find its escape. Three wildcats hunt a mouse, blocking its path front and rear. Trapped within the encirclement, the prey cannot break free. The image is stark: three predators closing in on a single victim in a confined space, with all exits sealed. The verse offers no resolution and no rescue. From The Clinging to Retreat, fire's clarity meets the mountain sheltering beneath heaven — the very image of strategic withdrawal. Yet the verse describes the failure of retreat: when one waits too long to withdraw, the encirclement closes and escape becomes impossible. The wildcats represent circumstances that have already outflanked the prey, making the hexagram's counsel of timely retreat a warning arrived too late.
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