33 - Retreat

Contemporary Interpretation

33 - Retreat

Disengagement is
"Death and Rebirth!"

Disengagement is
"Death
[The journey is over
when the road ends.]
And rebirth!"
[But soon the warmth of life
will return: expression, passion.
A new cycle begins.]

Follow the Path of the Dao: A Western Approximation

The Hexagram's Inner Trigrams

yang yang yang yang yin yin

Upper Trigram: Qian, Heaven

2nd Core Character: Qian, Heaven

1st Core Character: Sun, Wind (Tree)

Lower Trigram: Gen, Mountain

The Hexagram's Inner Trigrams in the Context of Yin and Yang

The hexagram's inner trigrams within the fields of Yin and Yang

Changes and Impulses

Additional Resources

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Retreat (33) signifies to draw back.

The image

The mountain underneath heaven: the image of retreat. Thus the superior man keeps the inferior people at a distance, not angrily but with reserve.

The judgement

Tetreat. Success. In small matters perseverance furthers. Full text of Richard Wilhelm's 1924 translation by Cary F. Baynes