Jiaoshi Yilin Volume 3: Dun (Retreat) through Mingyi (Darkening of the Light)
焦氏易林卷三·遯至明夷
Jiaoshi Yilin Volume 3: Dun (Retreat) through Mingyi (Darkening of the Light)
焦氏易林卷三·遯至明夷
Dun to Qian (Retreat to Creative)
遯之乾
軟弱無輔，不能自理意在外野，心懷勞苦雖憂不已
Soft and weak, without support -- / Unable to manage one's own affairs. / The mind is set on distant wilds, / The heart holds toil and suffering. / Though worry never ceases.
Volume 3 covers hexagrams 33-48, from Dun (Retreat) through Jing (The Well). The opening verse for Dun-to-Qian captures the paradox of retreat: one who withdraws from the world (Dun) aspires to the pure creative force (Qian) but lacks the strength to realize it. The five-line verse (unusual; most are four lines) may indicate textual corruption or an intentional variation.
Dun to Kun (Retreat to Receptive)
遯之坤
周成之隆，刑措無凶大衆讚佑，君子作仁
The flourishing of Zhou and Cheng -- / Punishments set aside, no calamity. / The multitudes praise and protect; / The noble person practices humaneness.
Zhou and Cheng refer to King Cheng of Zhou (周成王, r. c. 1042-1021 BC), whose reign -- guided by the regent Duke of Zhou -- was idealized as so perfectly governed that punishments were unnecessary (刑措). The verse envisions the ideal outcome of strategic retreat: a ruler who withdraws from aggressive action and cultivates receptive virtue (Kun), achieving a golden age through non-coercive governance.
Selected Verses: Dun to Zhun through Dun to Pi
遯之屯至遯之否（選譯）
穴有狐烏，坎生蝦蟆象去萬里，不可得捕 俱爲天民，雲過吾面治民姣妒，與我無恩 三首六目，政多煩惑皐陶瘖聲，亂不可從 德積不輕，辭出真心三姊不已，大福來成 堅固相親，日用自完六體不易，玁爲安全 畜北無駒，養雞不雛犀羊三歲，不生兩頭 入市求鹿，不見頓足終日至夜，竟無所得 海老水乾，魚鱉蕭索高落無潤，獨有沙石
Dun to Zhun: In the burrow there are foxes and crows; / In the pit, toads breed. / The elephant has gone ten thousand li -- / It cannot be caught. Dun to Meng: All alike are Heaven's people, / But clouds pass over my face. / Governing the people with jealousy and spite -- / They show me no kindness. Dun to Xu: Three heads and six eyes, / Government full of confusion and doubt. / Even Gaoyao's voice falls silent -- / Chaos that cannot be followed. Dun to Song: Accumulated virtue is not trivial; / Words come from a sincere heart. / The three elder sisters do not stop -- / Great fortune comes to completion. Dun to Shi: Firm and solid, close in affinity, / Daily needs are naturally fulfilled. / The six limbs remain unchanged -- / Xianyun raiders are kept at bay. Dun to Xiaoxu: Raising horses in the north yields no colts; / Keeping chickens produces no chicks. / A rhinoceros or ram at three years / Still grows no second head. Dun to Tongren: Entering the market seeking deer, / Not finding them, one stamps one's feet. / From daybreak until night -- / In the end, nothing obtained. Dun to Pi: The sea grows old, its water dries up; / Fish and turtles are desolate and sparse. / The heights are barren, without moisture -- / Only sand and stones remain.
皋陶 (Gaoyao): Gaoyao was the legendary Minister of Justice under the sage-emperor Shun (c. 2200 BC), famed for his unerring judgment and ability to discern truth from falsehood. That even Gaoyao falls silent (瘖聲) indicates a situation of such profound disorder that even the wisest judge cannot restore clarity.
玁狁 (Xianyun) were nomadic raiders from the northern steppes who periodically threatened the Zhou dynasty's borders. Their mention in the verse for Dun-to-Shi (Retreat to Army) evokes the military dimension of strategic withdrawal: maintaining defensive strength while avoiding aggressive engagement.
Remaining Palaces of Volume 3 (Overview)
卷三其他宮（概述）
懸狙素餐食非其任失望遠民實勞我心
[Volume 3 continues with hexagram palaces from Dun (#33) through Jing (#48), each containing 64 transformation verses, totaling approximately 1,024 verses.] Thematic patterns in this volume reflect the middle portion of the Lower Classic's narrative arc: retreat and withdrawal (Dun), great strength and its limits (Dazhuang), advance and its perils (Jin), the darkening of wisdom (Mingyi), family bonds and their strains (Jiaren, Kui), obstruction and deliverance (Jian, Xie), decrease and increase (Sun, Yi), breakthrough and encounter (Guai, Gou), gathering (Cui), ascending (Sheng), exhaustion (Kun), and the inexhaustible well (Jing). Representative verse -- Dun to Kan: The gibbon hangs from a branch, eating without earning -- / Its food is not its proper portion. / Disappointed and far from the people, / It truly wearies my heart. [Each verse functions as an independent oracle: when a diviner determines that the original hexagram is transforming into the target hexagram, they consult the corresponding four-line verse for the divinatory reading.]
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