Retreat
- In Chinese
- 遯 dùn
- Above
- The Creative, heaven
- Below
- Keeping Still, mountain
Did you get this hexagram?
Mark your changing lines and keep your cast.
Mark my castWhat hexagram 33 means
Hexagram 33 is about withdrawing when the time calls for it. Two broken lines stand at the bottom under four whole lines, with the mountain below and heaven above.
Legge reads the two lower lines as small men gaining ground. In his note the figure shows “the growth of small and unprincipled men in the state, before whose advance superior men were obliged to retire”.
The judgment is not dark. Legge has “successful progress”, and the commentary on the judgment finds that progress “in the very retiring” itself.
The judgment and the image
The judgment
遯亨。小利貞。
RETREAT. Success. In what is small, perseverance furthers.
success things flow and come throughit furthers it is favorable
The image
天下有山，《遯》。君子以遠小人，不惡而嚴。
Mountain under heaven: the image of RETREAT. Thus the superior man keeps the inferior man at a distance, Not angrily but with reserve.
What the commentaries say
The commentary on the judgment ties the retreat to its moment. It says “The action takes place according to (the requirement of) the time”.
The same commentary explains why firmness helps only to a small extent. The reason is that “(the small men) are gradually encroaching and advancing”.
It closes with praise for the moment itself. “Great indeed is the significance of (what is required to be done in) the time that necessitates retiring.”
It also points to two lines that answer each other. “The strong (line) is in the ruling place, (the fifth), and is properly responded to (by the second line).”
The image is a mountain under the sky. From it the commentary draws a rule about distance. The superior man “keeps small men at a distance, not by showing that he hates them”. Wilhelm gives the manner of that distance in five words. It is kept “Not angrily but with reserve”.
Legge does not read the hexagram as wholly bad. He writes “Yet the auspice of Thun is not all bad”, and adds that “By firm correctness the threatened evil may be arrested to a small extent”.
The six lines
First line
遯尾、厲，勿用有攸往。
At the tail in retreat. This is dangerous. One must not wish to undertake anything.
danger there is danger
The first line is the tail of the retreat. The text calls its position “perilous” and tells it to make no movement. Wilhelm has “One must not wish to undertake anything”.
Legge explains what the tail suggests. It is the idea of “hurrying away, which would only aggravate the evil and danger of the time”. The commentary on the line answers with a question. If no movement is made, “what disaster can there be?”
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 13, Fellowship
Second line
執之用黃牛之革，莫之勝、說。
He holds him fast with yellow oxhide. No one can tear him loose.
no verdict
This line holds its purpose fast, “as if by a (thong made from the) hide of a yellow ox, which cannot be broken”. Legge says which purpose is meant. It is “the purpose to withdraw”.
The commentary on the line sums it up in four words, “his purpose is firm”. Legge adds that this line answers the fifth, and that “both are central”. Wilhelm words the verse differently. He has “No one can tear him loose”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 44, Coming to Meet
Third line
係遯，有疾厲，畜臣妾吉。
A halted retreat Is nerve-wracking and dangerous. To retain people as men- and maidservants Brings good fortune.
danger there is dangergood fortune it goes well
The third line shows “one retiring but bound”, and the text adds “to his distress and peril”. Legge explains that its subject “allows himself to be entangled and impeded by the subjects of 1 and 2”, the two broken lines below. His advice is short. “He should keep them at a distance.”
The text still finds a way to good fortune, in dealing with those who bind as in “nourishing a servant or concubine”. The commentary traces the peril to “distress and exhaustion” and sets a limit to the way out, since “a great affair cannot be dealt with in this way”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 12, Standstill
Fourth line
好遯，君子吉，小人否。
Voluntary retreat brings good fortune to the superior man And downfall to the inferior man.
good fortune it goes well
The fourth line retires “notwithstanding his likings”. The text sees good fortune in this for a superior man and adds that “a small man cannot attain to this”.
Legge notes that this line “is free to exercise the decision belonging to its subject”. Wilhelm calls it “Voluntary retreat”. Where Legge says the small man cannot attain to this, Wilhelm has “downfall to the inferior man”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 53, Development
Fifth line
嘉遯，貞吉。
Friendly retreat. Perseverance brings good fortune.
good fortune it goes well
The fifth line retires “in an admirable way”, and the text joins good fortune to “firm correctness”. The commentary gives the cause. It says “this is due to the rectitude of his purpose”.
Legge's note brings a saying to this line. “The minister will not for favour or gain continue in an office whose work is done”. Wilhelm calls the line “Friendly retreat”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 56, The Wanderer
Sixth line
肥遯，无不利。
Cheerful retreat. Everything serves to further.
nothing that does not further everything is favorable
The top line retires “in a noble way”, and the text finds it “advantageous in every respect”. The commentary explains that “he who does so has no doubts about his course”.
Legge points out that the line is strong, “with no correlate to detain it”. Its subject “vigorously and happily carries out the idea of the hexagram”. Wilhelm calls it “Cheerful retreat”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 31, Influence
Hexagram 33 unchanging
If none of your six lines is moving, you read the hexagram as a whole. That is the judgment and the image above, without any of the line texts.
The book gives the reason. Lines that do not move are “non-moving lines, which serve only as structural matter in the hexagram, without intrinsic meaning of their own”.
For hexagram 33 unchanging, what remains is the judgment, where retiring is itself the way to progress and firmness still helps to a small extent, and the image of distance kept without hatred.
Questions people ask
What does hexagram 33 mean?
It describes a time when withdrawing is the right course. The commentary on the judgment finds “successful progress” in the retiring itself, and Legge writes that “the necessity of the time requires superior men to withdraw”.
What does hexagram 33 unchanging mean?
With no moving lines you read only the judgment and the image. For hexagram 33 that is progress through retiring, firmness that helps to a small extent, and distance kept “Not angrily but with reserve”.
What does hexagram 33 changing to 44 mean?
It is hexagram 33 with its second line moving. That line shows a purpose held fast by a thong of yellow ox hide “which cannot be broken”, and when it changes the hexagram becomes number 44.
What does hexagram 33 changing to 31 mean?
It is hexagram 33 with its top line moving. That line retires “in a noble way”, with advantage “in every respect”, and when it changes the hexagram becomes number 31.
Is hexagram 33 a bad sign?
Legge answers this directly. He writes “Yet the auspice of Thun is not all bad”, and the judgment itself speaks of “successful progress”.
Richard Wilhelm, translated by Cary F. Baynes. Thun in James Legge. Retreat in Wilhelm and Baynes.
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