升 → 遯
Hexagram 46: Pushing Upward → Hexagram 33: Retreat
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 2, 4, 5, 6).
Line 2
九二 孚乃利用禴。无咎。
Nine in the second place means: If one is sincere, It furthers one to bring even a small offering. No blame.
Line 4
六四 王用亨于岐山。吉。无咎。
Six in the fourth place means: The king offers him Mount Ch'i. Good fortune. No blame.
Line 5
六五 貞吉升階。
Six in the fifth place means: Perseverance brings good fortune. One pushes upward by steps.
Line 6
上六 冥升。利于不息之貞。
Six at the top means: Pushing upward in darkness. It furthers one To be unremittingly persevering.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
南行無遯，延頸後食。舉止失利，累為子孫。
Journeying south, no refuge to be found; craning the neck, eating only after delay. Every step loses advantage; the burden falls upon one's descendants.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Wood grows within the earth, but the southward journey offers no escape or sanctuary. Craning the neck, one eats only after others have finished; every move brings loss, and the accumulated failures burden the descendants who come after. Heaven over mountain, the image of Retreat, advises withdrawing from petty influences without malice. The verse shows a figure trapped in a downward spiral: heading south without shelter, always last in line for sustenance, accumulating debts that future generations must bear. From Pushing Upward to Retreat, the ascending impulse is reversed into withdrawal. Yet this retreat brings no strategic relief — only compounding failure that spreads forward in time, turning one generation's misfortune into a lasting inheritance.
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