Hexagram 33 of 64
遯 dùn
Retreat
乾 (qián, Heaven) above · 艮 (gèn, Mountain) below
The Judgment 卦辞
The dark is rising from below; the moment favors withdrawal. Retreat here is strength, not defeat — leave cleanly, on your own terms, at the right distance.
The Image 大象
The mountain under heaven: retreat. The wise person keeps the small-minded at a distance, not with anger but with dignified reserve.
The six lines 爻辞
Each line of 遯 has its own classical text. If a line in your cast is changing, its text is the heart of your reading.
Line 1 · 初六
The tail end of retreat — dangerous. Do not linger; move now.
「遯尾，厉，勿用有攸往」
Line 2 · 六二
Held fast with oxhide — the bond of what you will not abandon. Some ties outlast retreat.
「执之用黄牛之革，莫之胜说」
Line 3 · 九三
Retreat while still tethered: illness and danger. Detach from the small entanglements first.
「系遯，有疾厉，畜臣妾吉」
Line 4 · 九四
Retreating from what you love, at the right time. The wise do it; the small cannot.
「好遯，君子吉，小人否」
Line 5 · 九五
A retreat so clean it is admirable. Steadiness — good fortune.
「嘉遯，贞吉」
Line 6 · 上九
Retreating wide and free, nothing dragging behind. Nothing is lost.
「肥遯，无不利」
If you drew this in a reading
A pattern of tension and craft. This hexagram belongs to the large middle family of mixed patterns: it works, but only along its own grain. Read the Judgment closely — mixed hexagrams usually name the exact condition on which their promise depends.
In yes/no questions this hexagram reads as “not yet clear” — the answer hinges on timing and execution.
The trigrams give the flavor: 乾 (Heaven) above — creative force — initiative, clarity, persistence — over 艮 (Mountain) below — keeping still — restraint, meditation, knowing when to stop. Where those two energies meet, 遯 is born.
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