Hexagram 33 — Retiring
King Wen #33 · plain-language meaning, the Image, and the classical text
Retreat at the right moment. Withdraw with dignity before the pressure grows.
What Hexagram 33 Means 白话解读
Hexagram 33 places mountain (艮) beneath heaven (乾) — stillness holding its ground below, creative force pressing upward above. This is why the tradition reads it as “Retiring”: retreat at the right moment. Withdraw with dignity before the pressure grows. Whenever you cast this figure, the classical reading points back to that turning of forces.
The Image 象傳
天下有山，遯；君子以遠小人，不惡而嚴。
(The trigram representing) the sky and below it that for a mountain form Thun. The superior man, in accordance with this, keeps small men at a distance, not by showing that he hates them, but by his own dignified gravity.— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
Heaven above, mountains retiring below: retreat. The wise keep the small-minded at a distance — without ill will, yet with firm dignity.— plain-English rendering by The Hexagrams2
Hexagram 33 in Real Questions 實問實答
With money and work
Retiring describes retreat at the right moment. Withdraw with dignity before the pressure grows — and that is the posture the tradition recommends for practical matters under this figure: stillness holding its ground, held inside a larger setting of creative force pressing upward. It names a shape of timing, not a sum.
For a decision
If you cast Retiring about a choice, the figure's counsel is the same movement it pictures: retreat at the right moment. Withdraw with dignity before the pressure grows. When lines move in your cast, read them against this base — the moving lines show which part of the figure is awake for you, and the changed hexagram shows where it is heading.
Questions About Hexagram 33
What does 遯 (dùn) mean?
Hexagram 33 of the I Ching is named 遯 (dùn), usually rendered "Retiring" in English editions. Its figure is built from mountain (艮) below and heaven (乾) above — stillness holding its ground beneath creative force pressing upward.
Is hexagram 33 a good omen?
The received text of hexagram 33 is warm: it contains 3 occurrences of 吉 (good fortune). The classical verdict is broadly favourable — with the lines' own conditions attached.
What does hexagram 33 mean in love?
In a relationship reading, Retiring points to retreat at the right moment. Withdraw with dignity before the pressure grows. The figure pairs mountain (艮) beneath heaven (乾) — stillness holding its ground meeting creative force pressing upward — which is the traditional picture of how this energy behaves between two people. For how to phrase a love question before casting, see our guide to asking the I Ching about love.
What does hexagram 33 mean for career and money?
Career and money questions read Retiring through the figure itself: mountain (艮) below, heaven (乾) above — stillness holding its ground held inside creative force pressing upward. The plain reading: Retreat at the right moment. Withdraw with dignity before the pressure grows. The text carries 3 mentions of 吉 (good fortune), so it is read as workable — provided the conduct the lines describe is kept.
What do the changing lines of hexagram 33 mean?
A cast of hexagram 33 can produce moving lines. Each of the six lines has its own statement (爻辭) in the classical text below, read from the bottom up, and a moving line is read as the part of the figure that is awake for your question. When a line moves it turns into its opposite, and the whole figure becomes a second hexagram: changing every line of 33 gives hexagram 19, 臨 (Nearing). Every line also has a page of its own on this site — Line 1 through Line 6 under this hexagram — with the classical Chinese and Legge's translation side by side.
How is hexagram 33 related to the other hexagrams?
Changing every line of hexagram 33 gives hexagram 19 — 臨 (Nearing). Turned upside down it becomes hexagram 34 — 大壯 (Great Invigorating). Its nuclear hexagram — the inner pattern of lines 2 through 5 — is hexagram 44 — 姤 (Coupling).
Cast it yourself
Shake the tube, watch your own coins fall.
- The hexagram's classical meaning — judgment and all six lines
- Moving lines marked — but not read for you
- No account, no email, nothing to pay
Get the reading, not just the text
Same cast, read all the way through:
- Every line read for you — what each moving line means inside your question
- The changed hexagram — where your situation is heading, and how to read the turn
- A closing that answers you directly — act, wait, or say it out loud
New to casting? How it works · All 64 hexagrams
Related Hexagrams 錯綜互
The Classical Text 經文
亨，小利貞。
Dun indicates successful progress (in its circumstances). To a small extent it will (still) be advantageous to be firm and correct.— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
The Six Lines 爻辞
遁尾，厲，勿用有攸往。
The first SIX, divided, shows a retiring tail. The position is perilous. No movement in any direction should be made.
執之用黃牛之革，莫之勝說。
The second SIX, divided, shows its subject holding (his purpose) fast as if by a (thong made from the) hide of a yellow ox, which cannot be broken.
系遁，有疾厲；畜臣妾，吉。
The third NINE, undivided, shows one retiring but bound,--to his distress and peril. (If he were to deal with his binders as in) nourishing a servant or concubine, it would be fortunate for him.
好遁，君子吉，小人否。
The fourth NINE, undivided, shows its subject retiring notwithstanding his likings. In a superior man this will lead to good fortune; a small man cannot attain to this.
嘉遁，貞吉。
The fifth NINE, undivided, shows its subject retiring in an admirable way. With firm correctness there will be good fortune.
肥遁，無不利。
The sixth NINE, undivided, shows its subject retiring in a noble way. It will be advantageous in every respect.
Line by Line 逐爻细读
1 Legge, James. The Yi King, Sacred Books of the East vol. XVI (1899), public domain. Classical Chinese from the received Zhouyi text.2 The Image (象傳) is an ancient text in the public domain; its plain-English gloss here is original to The Hexagrams, not a quotation from any copyrighted edition. · For reflection and entertainment — not financial, medical, or life advice.