訟 → 遯
Hexagram 6: Conflict → Hexagram 33: Retreat
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 2, 3).
Line 2
九二 不克訟。歸而逋其邑。人三百戶。无眚。
Nine in the second place means: One cannot engage in conflict; One returns home, gives way. The people of his town, Three hundred households, Remain free of guilt.
Line 3
六三 食舊德。貞。厲終吉。或從王事。无成。
Six in the third place means: To nourish oneself on ancient virtue induces perseverance. Danger. In the end, good fortune comes. If by chance you are in the service of a king, Seek not works.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
疾貧望幸，使伯行販。關牢擇羊，多得大牂。
Sick and poor, hoping for luck; sending the elder brother to trade. At the market pen, choosing sheep; obtaining many fine ewes.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Heaven and water oppose, and poverty drives desperate measures. Afflicted by want, one sends the eldest brother to trade at market. At the pen's gate, he selects sheep and comes away with many fine ewes — a windfall born of necessity. The verse is pragmatic: when hardship is real, one does not philosophize but acts. From Conflict to Retreat, heaven stands above the mountain, the noble withdrawing from the petty. Yet here the retreat is not lofty detachment but commercial shrewdness — a strategic withdrawal into the marketplace. Dun's wisdom applies at every scale: sometimes the best response to conflict is not to fight or flee but to redirect energy toward practical gain.
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