Hexagram 33 of 64 · King Wen sequence

Retreat

遁 · dùn

Above: Heaven
Below: Mountain

Heaven above mountain: retreat below rising dark — withdrawal as a skill, timed and executed without bitterness.

Darkness rises from below; heaven moves away over the mountain. Retreat is the hexagram of leaving well — not defeat, but the deliberate withdrawal of a small tail of what is yours while the withdrawal is still dignified.

Its discipline is granular: a piglet of a retreat is easy, a whole buffalo of an entanglement is not. The rule is proportion — leave early and leave small, hold no grudges on the way out, and keep the small footholds that let a comeback be chosen rather than begged for.

Questions this hexagram asks

What should I be withdrawing from while it is still a small retreat?
What grudge would I be carrying out the door with me?
Which small footholds do I deliberately keep for the return?

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