遯 → 无妄
Hexagram 33: Retreat → Hexagram 25: Innocence
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 1, 3).
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 3
九三 係遯。有疾厲。畜臣妾吉。
Nine in the third place means: A halted retreat Is nerve-wracking and dangerous. To retain people as men- and maidservants Brings good fortune.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
容民畜眾，履德有信，大人受福，童蒙憂惑，利無所得。
Sheltering the people, nurturing the multitude; treading virtue with good faith. The great man receives blessings; the young and ignorant suffer doubt and confusion — no profit is gained.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Heaven above the mountain crystallizes into heaven over thunder — Innocence, where action proceeds from authentic impulse without ulterior calculation. The verse divides sharply: the great man who shelters the multitude, walks in virtue, and acts with faithfulness receives blessing. But the ignorant youth (童蒙) is bewildered and anxious, gaining nothing from the situation. The same cosmic configuration that rewards the virtuous punishes the naive. From Retreat to Innocence, the mountain's strategic withdrawal becomes heaven's spontaneous thunder — action without artifice. The verse warns that innocence is not the same as ignorance. The great man retreats and returns with authentic virtue; the fool retreats and returns with nothing learned. Innocence must be earned through cultivation, not assumed through inexperience.
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