小畜 → 遯
Hexagram 9: Small Taming → Hexagram 33: Retreat
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 4).
Line 1
初九 復自道。何其咎。吉。
Nine at the beginning means: Return to the way. How could there be blame in this? Good fortune.
Line 2
九二 牽復。吉。
Nine in the second place means: He allows himself to be drawn into returning. Good fortune.
Line 4
六四 有孚。血去惕出。无咎。
Six in the fourth place means: If you are sincere, blood vanishes and fear gives way. No blame.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
天之所予，福祿常在；以永康寧，不憂危殆。
What heaven bestows, fortune and blessings abide. In lasting peace and tranquility; no fear of danger or peril.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Wind above heaven opens into heaven standing above the mountain — the image of strategic withdrawal. What heaven bestows, fortune and blessing, endures always. Eternal peace and tranquility prevail; there is no anxiety over danger. From Small Taming to Retreat, the verse celebrates withdrawal not as defeat but as divine gift. Dun's image — heaven soaring above the mountain, beyond the reach of small forces below — frames retreat as a position of strength. The gentleman distances himself from petty men without hostility, simply by ascending. The blessings here are permanent because they are secured through timely withdrawal: knowing when to step back is how one keeps what heaven has given.
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