遁
GUA 33 · DUN
DISTANCING
Main Judgment (Distancing) (卦辞)
Success
Little reward in persistence▼
Main Judgment (Distancing) (卦辞)
Success
Little reward in persistence
Backing away to get the big picture, or at least a broader perspective, even the great mountain shrinks. When we have a big need to move ourselves forward we have a small trick to play: we make our goals seem big and important. But sometimes we forget we can do this backwards too, since backwards might not look like progress. By adjusting the relative size of things we can find the perfect distance. We can go to places where problems are manageably small, but not so reduced in importance that solutions are overlooked. Success will go where success is best. If this means being elsewhere, then staying here is not so good or smart. If we need to escape we progress by moving backwards. This will go somewhat more quickly if first we can turn around. This needs no repulsive force, we need not to be taken aback, we need not first be unhappy in the place we wish to leave, nor do we need the aloofness. We need to do nothing more than change our minds and start off in some new direction, one recently renamed forward. Craving and aversion both harm. It is you, not things, not going your way. Error will blunder forth, but persistence is not a virtue in error.
Key Words (关键词)
To retreat, step back, detach; strategic pullback, withdrawal, neutrality, abstention▼
Key Words (关键词)
To retreat, step back, detach; strategic pullback, withdrawal, neutrality, abstention
Issues of freedoms from and to; retire a debt; retirement, sabbatical, sabbath, rest Seclusion, refuge, sanctuary, asylum, reserve, haven, safe distance, out of reach Retraction, resignation, quitting claim; inaccessibility, discretion, disengagement Escaping, transcending, reframing; taking a larger point of view, a bigger picture Neutralizing, letting go, standing down, stepping back, getting away, evasiveness
Structure & Connections
Structure Class
Sovereign Gua, 6th Moon (Jul)
This classification indicates the hexagram's role in the 12 Sovereign Cycle (Earthly Branches) or its structural family.
Astrology
note:Jupiter in Air
planet:Jupiter
element:Air
Tarot
card:Four of Swords
suit:Swords
Qabalah
note:Chesed in Yetzirah
sphere:Chesed
The Lines
11st • YangWithdrawing the tail in trouble
Not at all useful to have somewhere to go▼
1
1st • YangWithdrawing the tail in trouble
Not at all useful to have somewhere to go
33.1x Withdrawing the tail comes to have troubles:
(If) not in motion, where is the crisis?
Only moments ago he was leading this charge, but then he got himself too advanced before the new call for retreat. Now all of the timid are found at the vanguard, along with the foresighted sage. Now he heads up the rear guard, trying to cover his tail, leading the wrong crowd forward. This makes him as bait for unwanted attentions, the loose ends that need tying up. Now he is left alone to face the thing that turned his whole group around. When someone is this completely surrounded, any move in any direction is moving far too far forward. Maybe it’s best to fade a little faster than hope, withdraw all the outward signs and become a part of the scenery. A shrub or a stone might be good, anything nobody wants. Or else he could look like a scout for the foe and show them which way he ran off to. The average can be a fine retreat.
22nd • YangTie it up with yellow rawhide
No one succeeds in getting it loose▼
2
2nd • YangTie it up with yellow rawhide
No one succeeds in getting it loose
33.2x Bound with yellow cow(hide):
Firmness (of) purpose
It is time to leave in a hurry. He knows that he can’t take everything with him. Alas, he has a fine thing that he must leave behind. A good thing is hard to come by these days and he knows a good thing when he sees one. It disgusts him so to think of his wonderful thing in the hands of inferior people, so he makes his thing inaccessible, that it might be there upon his return. It makes him feel so secure to know that his thing is secure. But he has to tie it up well, and tie it to something immobile: those loose ends are also good handles. And maybe he ought not to make it look precious. This may not be much of a problem, until the cost of his worries exceeds the worth of the thing, or unless he makes his thing so secure he deprives himself of its use. Too much insurance may show too little perspective. And none of this is freedom.
33rd • YangEntangled retreat
There will be anxiety and distress
To manage one’s servants and concubines would have been timely.▼
3
3rd • YangEntangled retreat
There will be anxiety and distress
To manage one’s servants and concubines would have been timely.
33.3x Entangled retreat has distress,
There will be anxiety (and) exhaustion
* Managing (one’s) servants (and) concubines
(would have been) timely:
But not suited to crucial concerns
His retreat is nerve-racking and tangled. The orders to evacuate were given long ago. The city’s defenses crumble. Barbarians march up the street. He should have been gone long ago, with his retinue firmly in tow, already safe in his mountain retreat. But he still runs around the house in distress, helping his servants to pack up their things, helping his concubines pick out the right clothes. The complexities here want something more expeditious: great affairs are not dealt with this way. Alhough his caring for them is commendable, he’s supposedly some kind of leader, at least in a minor capacity. He still lacks the proper perspective and the distance to lead them all to success. This is not time for fraternity and equality, or micromanagement either. Conditions need a master and a master needs to do triage, bid them follow, then go.
44th • YangElective retreat
The noble young one’s opportunity
The common people deny▼
4
4th • YangElective retreat
The noble young one’s opportunity
The common people deny
33.4x The noble young one chooses retreat
(While) common people deny
Knowing which way to face in retreat is knowing how to save face. Young nobles want spine and self-rule. When compelling reasons to go become known, those of noble character choose what they want, then elect to sever their ties in some manner permitting return. Then they rise, and say their goodbyes, and then go. Of course it might be noticed that they have changed their minds, and of course they might still love what they leave. Now those of a lesser character must take a more difficult route and things can get much more complex. First they must make themselves unhappy, in order to make those around them unhappy. This festers awhile, then it makes the whole situation reject them. This is just like acne or boils: out they pop like pimples. This is how disease works. It’s becoming an inanimate thing, not owning choices.
55th • YangCommendable retreat
Persistence is promising▼
5
5th • YangCommendable retreat
Persistence is promising
33.5x Commendable retreat’s persistence (is) promising:
By staying true to objectives
Exploratory behavior might try to get close enough to see where mistakes can be made. It aims to find out exactly where it can go with its freedoms. One expects to back up, turn around or go sideways when the limits of freedom are reached. One should not expect perfect foresight when wandering in unexplored realms. And if you learn that you do not belong anymore, you simply retreat, maybe admit some mistakes and be gracious. If you need to travel lightly, wits are the finest provisions, not baggage and entanglements. One departs with a rightness of purpose and a long road ahead, head high, eyes forward, onward to all those new vistas, with letters of recommendation, nothing severed or otherwise injured, no losses and gains to need balancing. This is a retreat without any sense of escape. This is retreating forward.
6Top • YangResourceful retreat
Nothing cannot be turned to advantage▼
6
Top • YangResourceful retreat
Nothing cannot be turned to advantage
33.6x Resourceful retreat, nothing cannot be turned to advantage:
Having no reason to doubt
Since it seems there is no could-have-been, it seems too that all of the steps to this present were needed, even if not a part of some silly deity’s plan. And so this path has come to an end, or at least to one serious change in direction. From the school which would make you a scholar, the tavern which drove you to drink, or the tyrant who would have you play soldier, what will you take away with you? What do you do while on the way out? Do you need the parting words or shots? If this was a path which has just doubled back on itself, then nothing is over yet and your part is still in play. The timid retreat going backwards, recounting successes and failures, as if they had made no decision. The point is not freedom from, but to. And detachment is from aversion and craving, not from living a life. Opportunities also lie in retreat.
Reference in Original Text & Resources
This content is derived from Bradford Hatcher's THE BOOK OF CHANGES: Yijing, Word By Word.
Original text for Hexagram 33 begins on Page 258-266.
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