遯 → 巽
Hexagram 33: Retreat → Hexagram 57: The Gentle Wind
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 2, 4).
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 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.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
江水沱汜，思附君子，伯仲受歸，不我肯顧，姪娣悔恨。
The river's waters branch at the Tuo and Si; longing to be near the noble man. Elder and younger brothers receive their brides; they will not look back at me. The nieces and younger sisters are left in regret.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Heaven above the mountain flows into doubled wind — the Gentle, where penetration proceeds softly and persistently. The Yangtze divides into its tributaries, the Tuo and the Si. A woman longs to attach herself to a gentleman, but her husband's brothers send her back; he will not look at her. Nieces and younger sisters are left with regret. The verse echoes the Shijing ode 'Jiang You Si' from the Airs of Shao, which describes a woman's anguish over marital rejection — the river branches, and so does her fate. From Retreat to the Gentle, the mountain's withdrawal becomes the wind that divides and separates. The Yangtze's branching mirrors the family's fracture: what should flow together splits apart. Gentleness here is not kindness but the quiet, persistent force of estrangement — love that penetrates but cannot hold.
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