Hexagram 33: Dùn (Retreat)

The Judgment

Dun indicates successful progress (in its circumstances). To a small extent it will (still) be advantageous to be firm and correct.

遁：亨，小利贞。

Commentary on the Judgment (Tuan)

'Dun indicates successful progress:' - that is, in the very retiring which Dun 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. 'To a small extent it will (still) be advantageous to be firm and correct:' - (the small men) are gradually encroaching and advancing. Great indeed is the significance of (what is required to be done in) the time that necessitates retiring.

彖曰：遁亨，遁而亨也。刚当位而应，与时行也。小利贞，浸而长也。遁之时义大矣哉！

The Great Image

(The trigram representing) the sky and below it that for a mountain form Dun. 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.

象曰：天下有山，遁；君子以远小人，不恶而严。

The six lines

1. Line 1 (first): The first SIX, divided, shows a retiring tail. The position is perilous. No movement in any direction should be made.

   There is 'the perilousness of the position shown by the retiring tail:' - but if 'no movement' be made, what disaster can there be?

   In plain words: Retreating at the tail: danger; do not go anywhere. The first line is at the bottom, the tail end of the retreat, too late to get away. The Small Image asks what harm there could be if one does not go.

   初六：遁尾，厉，勿用有攸往。 象曰：遁尾之厉，不往何灾也。

2. Line 2 (second): 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.

   'He holds it as; by (a thong from the hide of) a yellow ox:' - his purpose is firm.

   In plain words: Bound fast with yellow oxhide that no one can loosen. The second line is central and correct and corresponds to the fifth; its resolve is firm, and it does not retreat with the others. The Small Image says this makes its resolve firm.

   六二：执之用黄牛之革，莫之胜说。 象曰：执用黄牛，固志也。

3. Line 3 (third): 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.

   '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.

   In plain words: A retreat held back by ties: illness and danger; keeping servants and maids brings good fortune. The third line is right next to the second and held by yin, unable to retreat far; it can look after small household matters, but not great affairs. The Small Image says there is illness and weariness, and keeping servants is fine but great affairs are not possible.

   九三：系遁，有疾厉，畜臣妾吉。 象曰：系遁之厉，有疾惫也。畜臣妾吉，不可大事也。

4. Line 4 (fourth): 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.

   'A superior man retires notwithstanding his likings; a small man cannot attain to this.'

   In plain words: Retreating despite fondness: good fortune for the noble, not so for the petty. The fourth line corresponds to the first and is attached to it, but the noble person can cut the tie and withdraw, while the petty person cannot. The Small Image says the noble person can withdraw in this way; the petty person cannot.

   九四：好遁，君子吉，小人否。 象曰：君子好遁，小人否也。

5. Line 5 (fifth): The fifth NINE, undivided, shows its subject retiring in an admirable way. With firm correctness there will be good fortune.

   'He retires in an admirable way, and with firm correctness there will be good fortune:' - this is due to the rectitude of his purpose.

   In plain words: A fine retreat; steadfastness brings good fortune. The fifth line is central and correct and corresponds to the second, yet it withdraws at the right time and in the right way, calmly and reasonably. The Small Image says this keeps its aims upright.

   九五：嘉遁，贞吉。 象曰：嘉遁贞吉，以正志也。

6. Line 6 (sixth (top)): The sixth NINE, undivided, shows its subject retiring in a noble way. It will be advantageous in every respect.

   '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.

   In plain words: A carefree, ample retreat: nothing is unfavourable. Some read the word as "flying". The top line is outside the hexagram, with no ties within, and leaves freely. The Small Image says there is nothing to doubt.

   上九：肥遁，无不利。 象曰：肥遁无不利，无所疑也。

Line positions

3 of the six lines stand in their proper place (strong lines in odd places, weak lines in even places).

The second and fifth lines hold the central places of the lower and upper trigrams; being one strong and one weak, they correspond, and both are also in their proper places.

Of the three pairs of corresponding places (first and fourth, second and fifth, third and top), 2 pairs are made of one strong and one weak line.

Strong lines belong in odd places and weak lines in even places; the second and fifth are the central places; first and fourth, second and fifth, third and top correspond, and they "respond" when one is strong and the other weak.

These are structural conventions, not scores of good or bad fortune. Commentators differ: Wang Bi treats the first and top places as beginning and end without fixed yin or yang positions. Read each line with its Small Image and the whole hexagram.

Place in Jing Fang's eight palaces

Jing Fang grouped the 64 hexagrams into eight "palaces" of eight, each headed by a doubled trigram. Changing the lines of the head hexagram one by one from the bottom gives the next five; the last two are the "wandering soul" and "returning soul" hexagrams. The Qian palace runs: Qián (head), Gòu (1st change), Dùn (2nd change), Pǐ (3rd change), Guān (4th change), Bō (5th change), Jìn (wandering soul), Dà Yǒu (returning soul).

The twelve waxing and waning hexagrams

This is one of the twelve "waxing and waning" hexagrams, matched to the sixth month of the Chinese lunar calendar. The series starts from Fu, with one strong line returning at the bottom, grows to Qian, then gives way to weak lines until Kun, tracing the rise and fall of yang through the year; it belongs to the Han-dynasty gua qi system of Meng Xi and Jing Fang.

A recorded case from Takashima

Dun to Pi: cutting losses when a business fails: A friend asked how his business would fare and received the third line of Dun, "retreat held back; illness and danger; keeping servants is good". Takashima called it a sign of failure: sell off the stock quickly while losses are small; hesitate out of reluctance and prices will keep falling. Use what is left to support the household, and do not try to revive the business.

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English text: James Legge, The Yi King (Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16, 1882), public domain, as transcribed by the Chinese Text Project. Chinese: the received text. Offered for study and reflection, not as prediction.

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