中孚

Hexagram 61: Inner Truth → Hexagram 33: Retreat

中孚
Inner Truth
Wind / Lake
Retreat
Heaven / Mountain
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 4).

Line 1

初九 虞吉。有他不燕。

readiness
promising
yǒuto be
more than this
no
yàncomfort

Nine at the beginning means: Being prepared brings good fortune. If there are secret designs, it is disquieting.

Line 2

九二 鳴鶴在陰。其子和之。我有好爵。吾與爾靡之。

míngcall
crane
zàiremaining in
yīnshadows
her
young ones
respond
zhīher
I
yǒuhave
hǎofine
juédecanter
I
along with
ěryour
will drain
zhīit

Nine in the second place means: A crane calling in the shade. Its young answers it. I have a good goblet. I will share it with you.

Line 3

六三 得敵。或鼓或罷。或泣或歌。

finding
counterpart
huòmaybe
to beat
huòor maybe
to quit
huòmaybe
to weep
huòor maybe
to sing

Six in the third place means: He finds a comrade. Now he beats the drum, now he stops. Now he sobs, now he sings.

Line 4

六四 月幾望。馬匹亡。无咎。

yuèmoon
almost
wàngfull
horse
of a pair
wángruns away
no
jiùblame

Six in the fourth place means: The moon nearly at the full. The team horse goes astray. No blame.

Trigram Changes

Upper TrigramWind HeavenThe Gentle → The Creative
Lower TrigramLake MountainThe Joyous → Keeping Still

Yilin Verse

旦醉病酒,暮多瘳愈,不反為咎。

Drunk at dawn, sick from wine; by evening mostly recovered. Not changing brings blame.

— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE

Commentary

Wind stirs above the lake, but one wakes drunk and sick from wine. By evening the illness abates; the mistake lies in not turning back sooner. The verse is a miniature parable of overindulgence: morning brings the hangover, evening brings recovery, but the real error was not stopping when one should have. From Inner Truth to Retreat, sincerity meets heaven above the mountain — the image of the gentleman distancing himself from what is unworthy. The morning drunkenness is the excess one failed to retreat from; the evening recovery comes only after the body enforces the withdrawal the will did not make. Retreat's wisdom is knowing the moment of 'enough' before the body forces the lesson.

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