I Ching · Hexagram 33
Dùn: Retreat
The mountain rises but heaven withdraws beyond its reach. Dun is a wise retreat: stepping back in time, with dignity, when the forces against you are growing.
- Keywords
- Strategic retreat, distance, timing, self-protection
- Upper trigram
- Heaven (Qian)
- Lower trigram
- Mountain (Gen)
- Advice
- Withdraw without bitterness and keep your strength for a better moment.
Changing lines
When you cast this hexagram, any changing line is turning into its opposite: yang into yin, or yin into yang. Changing them gives a second hexagram that suggests where things are heading. Hexagram meanings are a starting point for reflection, not predictions.