Hexagram 33 of 64 · King Wen order
遯Retreat
Dùn · ䷠ · above: Heaven ☰ 乾 Qián · below: Mountain ☶ 艮 Gèn
Knowing when to withdraw to preserve one's strength and integrity when the timing is unfavorable for action.A one-line gloss written for this site (AI-assisted). Everything below it is the classical text.
The Judgment 卦辭
亨，小利貞。
Thun indicates successful progress (in its circumstances). To a small extent it will (still) be advantageous to be firm and correct.
James Legge, The Yî King (1882), the Text. Words in (parentheses) are Legge's own additions.
Commentary on the Judgment 彖傳 (Tuan, the first Wing)
1. 'Thun indicates successful progress:'—that is, in the very retiring which Thun denotes there is such progress. The strong (line) is in the ruling place, (the fifth), and is properly responded to (by the second line). The action takes place according to (the requirement of) the time.
2. 'To a small extent it will (still) be advantageous to be firm and correct:'—(the small men) are gradually encroaching and advancing.
3. Great indeed is the significance of (what is required to be done in) the time that necessitates retiring.
The Image 象
天下有山，遯；君子以遠小人，不惡而嚴。
(The trigram representing) the sky and below it that for a mountain form Thun. The superior man, in accordance with this, keeps small men at a distance, not by showing that he hates them, but by his own. dignified gravity.
Legge's Great Image (Appendix II). The Chinese above also carries the Small Images of the six lines.
The six lines 爻辭
Read from the bottom (line 1) to the top (line 6). Each line: the Chinese, Legge's translation, and the Small Image commentary on it.
Line 1 初六
The first line from the bottom, yin (broken, six)
遯尾，厲，勿用有攸往。
The first SIX, divided, shows a retiring tail. The position is perilous. No movement in any direction should be made.
Small Image: There is 'the perilousness of the position shown by the retiring tail:'—but if 'no movement' be made, what disaster can there be?
If this line changes, it becomes Hexagram 13, Fellowship with Men.
Line 2 六二
The second line from the bottom, yin (broken, six)
執之用黃牛之革，莫之勝說。
The second SIX, divided, shows its subject holding (his purpose) fast as if by a (thong made from the) hide of a yellow ox, which cannot be broken.
Small Image: 'He holds it as; by (a thong from the hide of) a yellow ox:'—his purpose is firm.
If this line changes, it becomes Hexagram 44, Coming to Meet.
Line 3 九三
The third line from the bottom, yang (solid, nine)
係遯，有疾厲，畜臣妾吉。
The third NINE, undivided, shows one retiring but bound,—to his distress and peril. (If he were to deal with his binders as in) nourishing a servant or concubine, it would be fortunate for him.
Small Image: 'The peril connected with the case of one retiring, though bound,' is due to the (consequent) distress and exhaustion. 'If he were (to deal as in) nourishing a servant or concubine, it would be fortunate for him:'—but a great affair cannot be dealt with in this way.
If this line changes, it becomes Hexagram 12, Standstill.
Line 4 九四
The fourth line from the bottom, yang (solid, nine)
好遯君子吉，小人否。
The fourth NINE, undivided, shows its subject retiring notwithstanding his likings. In a superior man this will lead to good fortune; a small man cannot attain to this.
Small Image: 'A superior man retires notwithstanding his likings; a small man cannot attain to this.'
If this line changes, it becomes Hexagram 53, Development.
Line 5 九五
The fifth line from the bottom, yang (solid, nine)
嘉遯，貞吉。
The fifth NINE, undivided, shows its subject retiring in an admirable way. With firm correctness there will be good fortune.
Small Image: 'He retires in an admirable way, and with firm correctness there will be good fortune:'—this is due to the rectitude of his purpose.
If this line changes, it becomes Hexagram 56, The Wanderer.
Line 6 上九
The sixth line from the bottom, yang (solid, nine)
肥遯，無不利。
The sixth NINE, undivided, shows its subject retiring in a noble way. It will be advantageous in every respect.
Small Image: 'He retires in a noble way, and his doing so will be advantageous in every respect:'—he who does so has no doubts about his course.
If this line changes, it becomes Hexagram 31, Influence.
Related hexagrams
lines 2-4 below, 3-5 aboveOpposite 錯卦19. Approach 臨
every line changedInverse 綜卦34. The Power of the Great 大壯
turned upside down
A hexagram is a mirror, not a command: read it to reflect, never to obey. Sources: James Legge (tr.), The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East vol. XVI (Oxford, 1882; 2nd ed. 1899), public domain; the Chinese text from Project Gutenberg ebook #25501 (易經), public domain. The trigram facts and the related hexagrams are computed from the line pattern. The gloss, selection and arrangement are CC-BY-SA-4.0 (PlayfulProcess). Data: github.com/PlayfulProcess/recursive-iching.