遯 → 咸
Hexagram 33: Retreat → Hexagram 31: Influence
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 1 changing line (line 6).
Line 6
上九 肥遯无不利。
Nine at the top means: Cheerful retreat. Everything serves to further.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
野有積庾，穡人駕取，不逢虎狼，暮歸其宇。
In the fields, grain is heaped and stored; the harvester drives his cart to fetch it. He meets no tiger or wolf; at dusk he returns to his home.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Heaven above the mountain softens into lake resting upon mountain — Influence, where mutual responsiveness flows naturally. Grain lies heaped in the open fields, and the harvester drives out to collect it. No wolves or tigers bar the way; by evening he returns safely to his home. The verse is a pastoral idyll: abundance awaits, the journey is safe, and the laborer comes home before dark. From Retreat to Influence, the mountain's withdrawal becomes the lake upon the mountain — a high reservoir that nourishes from above. The retreating figure discovers that withdrawal has not diminished the world's offerings but preserved them. The grain waited patiently in the field, and the path remained clear. Influence here is quiet receptivity — the open hand that finds the harvest already gathered.
The Six Lines app includes all 4,096 Yilin verses, each with original ink brush artwork and full commentary. Download on the App Store