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Hexagram 60 — Dun, Retreat

Chronological no. 60 (binary-weight order) · King Wen no. (traditional) 33 · 遯

By Anibal Edelberto Amiot — Updated October 1, 2026

Magic square / tiling associated with hexagram 60 (Retreat) — Tiling of the magic square associated with this hexagram, La Livrée d'Hermès.

☰

Upper trigram

Qian — The Creative, Heaven
the father

☶

Lower trigram

Gen — Keeping Still, the Mountain
the youngest son

Image

Retreat

Beneath Heaven, the mountain: the image of retreat. Heaven gradually distances itself from the mountain, taking its leave without hostility, simply out of the need to preserve its own movement. This is the figure of dignified withdrawal, never shameful flight. Thus the noble one keeps small men at a distance — not out of hatred, but out of dignity: to withdraw in time is not weakness, it is the wisdom of one who knows when staying would cost more than leaving.

Judgement

Permanence

Duration affirms itself by knowing how to withdraw the better to last. Paradoxically, what lasts longest is often what knew, at the right moment, how to leave the stage. This line teaches that strategic withdrawal does not interrupt continuity — it protects it.

The six lines

First line

At the base of the earth, emptiness closes over: what was still an opening begins to fill.

Second line

The receptive earth reaches its fullness: the silent welcome that carried the lower figure is about to assert itself.

Third line

At the threshold between earth and man, force wavers: what acted through firmness hesitates before turning.

Fourth line

In the action of man, fullness meets its limit: the initiative that led the figure folds back upon itself.

Fifth line

At the sage's seat, fullness hollows out: the force that governed the figure from its center is about to invert.

Sixth line

At the summit, fullness completes its course and breaks: what had culminated cannot go further without turning back.

Read the passage in the book (ch. 7.1) → See it on the interactive board → Create this hexagram's pattern →

Source: La Livrée d'Hermès, Anibal Amiot — chapter 7.1 (pp. 63–68). French version of this page.

For the notions used here — magic square, layer and casting, the Yi Jing — see the project lexicon.

The patterns of this hexagram

This hexagram is the binary complement of hexagram 3 — Lin, Approach (63 − 60 = 3): its patterns have exactly the same shape, only their colours are permuted. Here are the eight patterns of hexagram 3, one for each admissible family.