Hexagram 33 · 遯 · dùn
Hexagram 33. Dùn · Retreat
☰☶ Heaven over mountain: Qián above, Gèn below.
Thun indicates successful progress (in its circum¬ stances). To a small extent it will (still) be advan¬ tageous to be firm and correct.
Thun indicates successful progress (in its circum¬ stances). To a small extent it will (still) be advan¬ tageous to be firm and correct.
Darkness advances — and the wise man withdraws before the rout. This is not surrender but maneuver: to step back in time, strength and dignity intact, is to win the future. Retreat without hatred and without haste, keeping hold of the small that can be kept.
The Image
The mountain presses toward heaven, and heaven withdraws higher: the strong retreats before rising pressure without giving battle. Retreat is not flight: it is a maneuver preserving formation, strength, and dignity. Decide what you take with you — competence, people, name — withdraw without hatred and not piecemeal. To leave in time is to win the next phase.
Interpretation of hexagram 33
XXXIII. The Thun Hexagram. being. The sixth Appendix makes it a sequel of the previous figure. As that treats, it is said, of the relation between husband and wife, so this treats of the continuous observance of their respective duties. Hsien, we saw', is made up of Kan, the symbol of the youngest son, and Tui, the symbol of the youngest daughter, attraction and influence between the sexes being strongest in youth. Hang consists of Sun,‘the oldest daughter,’ and Wan, the oldest son. The couple are more staid. The wife occupies the lower place; and the relation between them is marked by her submission. This is sound doctrine, especially from a Chinese point of view; but I doubt whether such application of his teaching was in the mind of king Wan. Given two parties, an inferior and superior in correlation. If both be continuously observant of what is correct, the inferior being also submissive, and the superior firm, good fortune and progress may be predicated of their course.
The lines of hexagram 33
First line
The first line, divided, shows a retiring tail. The position is perilous. No movement in any direction should be made.
Line 1 has a proper correlate in 4; but between them are two strong lines; and it is itself weak. These two conditions are against its subject receiving much help from the subject of 4. He should be quiet, and not forward for action.
Second line
The second line, 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.
Line 2 is strong, but in the place of a weak line. Its position, however, being central, and its subject holding fast to the due mean, the unfavourable condition of an even place is more than counteracted.
Third line
The third line, 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.
Line 3 is strong, and in its proper place; but being beyond the centre of the trigram, its subject is too strong, and coming under
Fourth line
The fourth line, 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.
the attraction of his correlate in 6, he is supposed to be ready to abandon his place and virtue. He may try to be firm and cor¬ rect, but circumstances are adverse to him.
Fifth line
The fifth line, undivided, shows its subject retiring in an admirable way. With firm correctness there will be good fortune.
Line 4 is strong in the place of a weak line, and suggests the symbolism of the duke of K& u.
Top line
The sixth line, undivided, shows its subject retiring in a noble way. It will be advantageous in every respect.
The weak 5th line responds to the strong 2nd, and may be sup¬ posed to represent a wife conscious of her weakness, and docilely submissive; which is good. A husband, however, and a man gene¬ rally, has to assert himself, and lay down the rule of what is right.
Did hexagram 33 come up in your reading? The oracle itself gives the full reading, with changing lines and the second hexagram.
Cast the coins