遯 → 賁
Hexagram 33: Retreat → Hexagram 22: Grace
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 4, 5).
Line 1
初六 遯尾厲。勿用有攸往。
Six at the beginning means: At the tail in retreat. This is dangerous. One must not wish to undertake anything.
Line 4
九四 好遯。君子吉。小人否。
Nine in the fourth place means: Voluntary retreat brings good fortune to the superior man And downfall to the inferior man.
Line 5
九五 嘉遯貞吉。
Nine in the fifth place means: Friendly retreat. Perseverance brings good fortune.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
老馬垂耳，不見百里，君子弗恃，商人莫取，無與為市。
The old horse droops its ears; it cannot see a hundred li. The noble man does not rely on it; the merchant will not take it — none will trade for it.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Heaven above the mountain adorns itself as mountain over fire — Grace, where outer beauty illuminates substance. An old horse droops its ears and cannot cover a hundred li. The gentleman does not rely on it; the merchant will not buy it; no one will trade for such a beast. The image is of depleted vitality dressed in no adornment at all — a creature past its useful life that even its surface cannot redeem. From Retreat to Grace, the mountain's withdrawal should yield refinement and ornamentation. But the verse inverts this: the old horse is beyond beautifying. Grace requires something vital beneath the decoration; when the substance has fled, no amount of adornment can restore value. The retreat has lasted too long — what remains is too exhausted to bear even the lightest embellishment.
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