遯 → 損
Hexagram 33: Retreat → Hexagram 41: Decrease
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 5 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 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 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
安坐至暮，禍災不到，利詰奸妖，罪人弗赦。
Sitting peacefully until dusk; disaster and calamity do not arrive. Advantageous to interrogate the treacherous; the guilty are not pardoned.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Heaven above the mountain diminishes into mountain over lake — Decrease, where the lower is reduced to benefit the upper. Sitting peacefully until dusk, disaster and calamity do not arrive. It is favorable to interrogate the treacherous and wicked; criminals shall not be pardoned. The verse pairs stillness with stern justice: remaining motionless keeps danger at bay, while evil is pursued and punished without mercy. From Retreat to Decrease, the mountain's withdrawal intensifies into disciplined restraint — the mountain bearing down upon the lake, curbing excess. The retreating figure discovers that withdrawal is not passive; it creates the conditions for moral reckoning. By sitting still, one avoids complicity; by interrogating the wicked, one ensures that retreat does not become complicity in wrongdoing through silence.
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