Hexagram 33, line 1
初六Line 1 of Withdrawal
Six at the beginning · 遯 dùn
爻辭 The line text
遯尾，厲，勿用有攸往。The first line, divided, shows a retiring tail. The position is perilous. No movement in any direction should be made.
遯尾之厲，不往何災也。There is 'the perilousness of the position shown by the retiring tail:'—but if 'no movement' be made, what disaster can there be?
In plain words
The retreating tail: in a hexagram where the yang lines are withdrawing upward, the bottom line is the last part of the body to leave and the most exposed. Line one is yin in a yang place, weak and out of position, with the two advancing yin lines of the sixth month already beneath its feet — it has no strength to run and nowhere to run to. The text calls the position perilous and says 'make no movement in any direction'. The small Image turns this into reassurance: if you do not go, what disaster can there be (不往何災)? Danger here comes from flight, not from staying.
If this line is changing
If you find yourself at the rear of a situation others are already leaving, do not scramble after them; keep still and inconspicuous until the moment passes.
Where the line stands
- A broken line, yin — written 六 (six), the number of an old yin line that moves when cast.
- It is not in its correct place (不當位): a yang line in an even position or a yin line in an odd one, which the tradition reads as a line under some strain — often the reason a text sounds a warning.
- It belongs to the lower trigram 艮 Gen (Keeping Still) (mountain).
- It corresponds (應) with line 4: one yin and one yang, the two lines answer each other across the hexagram.
之卦 When this line moves
遯 Withdrawal becomes ䷌ 13 同人 People United
Fire rising to heaven: people gathering in the open field. Fellowship succeeds when it is public and principled rather than clannish, and it makes great undertakings possible.
What it becomes13 · 同人 People Unitedtóng rénThe six lines of 遯 Withdrawal
- 初六Six at the beginningthe tail · too late to run · stay still
- 六二Six in the second placeyellow ox hide · holding fast · unbreakable bond
- 九三Nine in the third placeentangled retreat · exhaustion · small matters only
- 九四Nine in the fourth placeretreat from what one loves · the superior person · letting go
- 九五Nine in the fifth placeadmirable retreat · right timing · correct purpose
- 上九Nine at the topample retreat · nothing holds you · no doubts
Read 遯 Withdrawal for a question about
Questions about this line
- What does Six at the beginning of hexagram 33, Withdrawal, mean?
- The retreating tail: in a hexagram where the yang lines are withdrawing upward, the bottom line is the last part of the body to leave and the most exposed. Line one is yin in a yang place, weak and out of position, with the two advancing yin lines of the sixth month already beneath its feet — it has no strength to run and nowhere to run to. The text calls the position perilous and says 'make no movement in any direction'. The small Image turns this into reassurance: if you do not go, what disaster can there be (不往何災)? Danger here comes from flight, not from staying.
- What does hexagram 33 become when line 1 changes?
- Withdrawal becomes hexagram 13, 同人 People United: Fire rising to heaven: people gathering in the open field. Fellowship succeeds when it is public and principled rather than clannish, and it makes great undertakings possible.
- Is line 1 of Withdrawal in its correct place?
- It is not in its correct place (不當位): a yang line in an even position or a yin line in an odd one, which the tradition reads as a line under some strain — often the reason a text sounds a warning.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi (Wuyingdian lineage). English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East XVI, 1882 (public domain).