遯 → 蒙
Hexagram 33: Retreat → Hexagram 4: Youthful Folly
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 2, 3, 4, 5).
Line 2
六二 執之用黃牛之革。莫之勝說。
Six in the second place means: he holds him fast with yellow oxhide. No one can tear him loose.
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.
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
俱為天民,雲過吾西,伯氏嫉妬,與我無恩。
All alike are heaven's people; clouds pass west of me. The elder brother harbors jealousy; he shows me no kindness.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Heaven above the mountain shifts into mountain over water — Youthful Folly's bewildered darkness. All are subjects under heaven, yet clouds drift past to the west without pausing. The elder brother harbors jealousy and shows no kindness. The verse depicts familial estrangement: though bound by common origin, one sibling turns hostile while the other can only watch opportunity pass like drifting clouds. The 'elder brother's jealousy' resonates with numerous Spring and Autumn succession crises where brothers contended for inheritance. From Retreat to Youthful Folly, the mountain's strategic withdrawal encounters the spring that cannot yet find its way. The retreating figure withdraws not from enemies but from kin — the most painful form of retreat, where the folly lies not in ignorance but in the refusal of one's own blood to offer grace.
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