Find strength in quiet withdrawal and let steady upward steps guide you to new heights.
From
33
Retreat
To
46
Pushing Upward
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Retreat33
Step back and reassess. Retreat to gain strength and clarity. Focus on inner resources, conserve energy, and observe quietly. Let go gracefully, avoid confrontation, and prepare for future action.
↓ Line 2
A firm and gentle retreat is secure and cannot be easily disrupted.
↓ Line 4
Choosing to retreat wisely leads to positive outcomes for those who are virtuous, while it may harm those who are not.
↓ Line 5
Retreating in a friendly manner and maintaining perseverance ensures good fortune.
↓ Line 6
A joyful and willing retreat leads to progress and success in all endeavors.
↓ Pushing Upward46
Steady growth and progress through perseverance and effort. Step-by-step advancement leads to success.
Other titles: The Symbol of Retirement, Yielding, Withdrawal, Retiring, Wielding, Strategic Withdrawal, Inaccessibility, Disassociation from Inferior Forces, “When an opportunity for something better comes along, do not quarrel with an impossible situation.” -- D. F. Hook
Judgment
Legge:Retreatmeans successful progress. Advantage comes from firm correctness and attention to details.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Retreat . Success. In what is small, perseverance furthers.
Blofeld: Yielding. Success! Persistence in small things wins advantage. [Much of the teaching of the Book of Change is concerned with the wisdom of restraint or withdrawal as the best way of achieving our goal under certain circumstances; so this hexagram is not necessarily unfavorable to the wise. This is not a time when we can hope to achieve much; but attention to small matters will stand us in good stead later.]
Liu: Retreat. Success. To persist in small matters is of benefit.
Ritsema/Karcher:Retiring, Growing. The small: Harvesting Trial. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of conflict and consequent seclusion. It emphasizes that withdrawing from the affairs at hand to conceal yourself in obscurity is the adequate way to handle it. To be in accord with the time, you are told to: retire!]
Shaughnessy: Wielding: Receipt; little beneficial to determine.
Cleary (1): Withdrawal is developmental. The small is beneficial and correct.
Cleary (2): Withdrawal is successful. Small benefit is correct.
Wu: Retreat indicates pervasion. It will be advantageous for the little men to be persevering.
The Image
Legge: A mountain beneath the sky -- the image of Retreat. The superior man keeps inferior men at a distance by his dignified bearing rather than hostility.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Mountain under heaven: the image of Retreat. Thus the superior man keeps the inferior man at a distance, not angrily but with reserve. [He does not hate him, for hatred is a form of subjective involvement by which we are bound to the hated object.]
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes mountains beneath the sky. The Superior Man, by keeping his distance from men of inferior character, avoids having to display wrath and preserves his dignity. [The component trigrams, symbolizing mountain and sky, indicate withdrawal to a solitary place when circumstances are unfavorable.]
Liu: The mountain beneath the sky symbolizes Retreat. The superior man keeps his distance from the inferior, not with anger, but with dignity.
Ritsema/Karcher: Below heaven possessing mountain. Retiring. A chun tzu uses distancing Small People. A chun tzu uses not hating and-also intimidating.
Cleary (1): There are mountains under heaven, which is inaccessible. Thus do superior people keep petty people at a distance, being stern without ill will.
Cleary (2): … Being strict without ill will.[Petty people can be useful, so there is no ill-will, but their pettiness cannot wield authority, so be strict. In terms of learning to be a sage, the celestial ruler is the master, and the physical body takes orders from it, so that the desires of the various parts of the body cannot cause disturbance.]
Wu: There is a mountain under heaven; this is Retreat. Thus the jun zi distances himself from the little men, not because of despising them, but because of maintaining his own esteem. [The difference between the jun zi and the little men is one of education and not of birth. Confucius was a teacher first and a philosopher second, for he said: “Education is classless.” Every one of us has the potential of becoming a sage.]
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: There is progress in Retreat. The dynamic ruler in the fifth place receives a proper response from his correlate in line two. The action is in accordance with the requirements of the time because what is inferior is gradually increasing and advancing. The actions required during a Retreat are of great significance.
Legge: Retreat is the hexagram of the sixth month when the yin influence, represented by the two magnetic lines, has established a foothold. This suggests the growth of inferior and unprincipled men in the state, before whose advance superior men are obliged to retire. Yet the auspice of Retreat is not all bad. By firm correctness the threatened evil may be arrested to some extent. Ch'eng-tzu says: “Below the sky is the mountain. The mountain rises up below the sky, and its height is arrested, while the sky goes up higher and higher, till they come to be apart from each other. In this we have an emblem of retiring and avoiding.”
Anthony: The correct time for retreat comes when others are not receptive to us, when delicacy of feeling is lost, when we begin to be attacked by doubt, or when our actions no longer yield progress. The person who can hold his ego in check has many creative moments open to him.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: When carried out with shrewd discernment, Retreat is a strategy for success.
The Superior Man removes himself from disintegrating forces without calling attention to himself. He controls his weaknesses by maintaining his serious purpose.
With the possible exception of line two, there is very little ambiguity in the hexagram of Retreat. Without changing lines it is a clear injunction to remove yourself from an inferior situation, influence, emotion or way of thinking. The figure has certain affinities with hexagram number forty- four: Temptation which also depicts an inferior element encroaching from below.
To yield is to be preserved whole. Lao-tse
SUGGESTIONS FOR MEDITATION
Compare hexagrams number forty-four, Temptation; number thirty-three, Retreat; and number twelve, Divorcement; in that order. What are the next three logical hexagrams in the sequence, and what are the implications of the series as a whole?
Line 2
Legge: The second line, magnetic, shows its subject holding her purpose as if by a thong made from the hide of a yellow ox, which cannot be broken.
Wilhelm/Baynes: He holds him fast with yellow ox-hide. No one can tear him loose.
Blofeld: He bound it with thongs of yellow ox-hide and no one could untie it.
Liu: If his will is strong, like yellow ox-hide, no one can dissuade him.
Shaughnessy: Uphold it using a yellow ox's bridle; no one will succeed in overturning it.
Cleary (1): Use the hide of a yellow ox to fasten this; no one can loosen it.
Wu: He holds fast to his decision with the hide of a yellow cow. Nobody can dissuade him.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Her purpose is firm. Wilhelm/Baynes: This means a firm will. Blofeld: This symbolizes a powerful will.Ritsema/Karcher: Firm purpose indeed. Cleary (2): (This) means making the will firm. Wu: Indicates a firm will.
Legge:"Her purpose" in line two is the purpose to withdraw. The magnetic two responds correctly to the dynamic fifth line, and both are central. The purpose therefore is symbolized as in the text. The yellow color of the ox is introduced because of its being correct, and of a piece with the central place of the line.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man holds fast to the purpose of withdrawal but with due moderation.
Wing: You lack sufficient strength to make a complete withdrawal. If you can maintain a strong desire to Retreat or align yourself with one in a position to guide you, you can make your escape.
Anthony : Our own inferiors want, and ultimately have a right to justice. Justice may not, however, be procured through the demands and leadership of our ego. It will come about only through the firm leadership of our superior self, which through perseverance and disengagement, wins the help of the hidden world.
Editor: There is a fair amount of ambiguity in this line, and the meaning can fluctuate according to circumstances. Most translations refer to "will" or "purpose" in either the line or its Confucian commentary -- this is a reference to the strong ox-hide. Because the meaning of the hexagram is derived from the symbolism of inferior forces encroaching from below (which includes this line), it could be interpreted as a tenacious negative influence operating in the situation. "Will" associated with an inferior entity could relate to the uncanny power of instincts and passions within the psyche. On the other hand, the ox-hide is yellow, and this is the color of the mean. The line is also central with a proper correlate, so the auspice can also be positive. Wilhelm comments that it symbolizes an inferior man who wants to change his status, and holds fast to the superior man above him. He likens the situation to Jacob's battle with the angel in Genesis 32:
And there was one that wrestled with him until daybreak who seeing that he could not master him, struck him in the socket of his hip, and Jacob's hip was dislocated as he wrestled with him. He said, "Let me go, for day is breaking." But Jacob answered, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." He then asked, "What is your name?" "Jacob," he replied. He said, "Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have been strong against God, you shall prevail against men."
A. By holding fast to a superior principle, a weak element escapes from danger.
B. The image of an entrenched inferior power.
Line 4
Legge: The fourth line, dynamic, shows its subject retiring notwithstanding his likings. In a superior man this will lead to good fortune. An inferior man cannot attain to this.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Voluntary retreat brings good fortune to the superior man and downfall to the inferior man.
Blofeld: Withdrawal for good reasons -- for the Superior Man, good fortune; for people of mean attainments, misfortune!
Liu: Voluntary retreat is good fortune for the superior man, but not for the inferior man.
Ritsema/Karcher: Loving Retiring. A chun tzu significant. Small People obstructing.
Shaughnessy: Good wielding; for the gentleman auspicious, for the little man negative.
Cleary (1): A superior person who withdraws well is fortunate, an inferior person is not.
Cleary (2): Developed people who withdraw in the right way are fortunate; petty people are not.
Wu: To retreat from what he is fond of is easy for a Jun zi, but not so for a little man.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: A superior man retires notwithstanding his likings; an inferior man cannot attain to this. Wilhelm/Baynes: The superior man retreats voluntarily; this brings downfall for the inferior man. Blofeld: For when, quite rightly, the Superior Man withdraws, lesser men are bound to suffer. Ritsema/ Karcher: A chun tzu lovingly Retiring. Small People obstructing indeed. Cleary (2): Developed people withdraw well; petty people do not. Wu: The Jun zi uses retreat to his advantage, but the little man doesn’t.
Legge: Line four has a proper correlate in the magnetic first line, but as four is the first line in the upper trigram of Strength, he is free to exercise his choice.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man withdraws, despite his desire to do otherwise. The superior man can retreat in a friendly way, adjusting to the situation, and retaining his convictions. The inferior man is unable to do this.
Wing: If you recognize the moment for Retreat, be certain that you do so with the proper attitude -- that is, willingly. In this way you will adjust easily and progress in your new environment. Those who are filled with emotional turmoil during withdrawal will suffer greatly.
Editor: Psychologically interpreted, to "retire notwithstanding one's likings" is to exercise willpower over an inferior impulse for the good of the Work. The image suggests that you have the requisite strength to do this. It is a truism that when positive libido is withdrawn from something, unsupported inferior forces must wane.
The good is one thing, the pleasant another; these two, having different objects, chain a man. It is well with him who clings to the good; he who chooses the pleasant, misses the end. Katha Upanishad
A. Despite your desires, abandon your proposed plan of action. To ignore temptation strengthens the will and robs weakness of its power.
Line 5
Legge: The fifth line, dynamic, shows its subject retiring in an admirable way. With firm correctness there will be good fortune.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Friendly retreat. Perseverance brings good fortune.
Blofeld: An admirably carried out withdrawal. Persistence in a righteous course brings good fortune.
Liu: Appropriate retreat. To continue brings good fortune.
Shaughnessy: Enjoyable wielding; determination is auspicious.
Cleary (1): Excellent withdrawal; correctness is auspicious.
Wu: The commendable retreat is auspicious if persevering.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: This is due to the rectitude of his purpose. Wilhelm/ Baynes: Because the will thereby reaches a correct decision. Blofeld: This results from a withdrawal carried out as a result of rectifying our aims. [I.e. revising them in the light of unfavorable circumstances.]Ritsema/Karcher: Using correcting the purpose indeed.) Cleary (2): Because of right aspiration. Wu: He needs to put his aims in the right perspective.
Legge: The K'ang-hsi editors refer to the words of I Yin as an illustration of what is said in line five: "The superior man will not for favor or gain continue in an office whose work is done." He advances or withdraws according to the character of the time. The strength and correct position of the fifth line show that he is able to maintain himself, and as he is responded to by the magnetic second line, no opposition would come from any of the others. Therefore, he is free to keep his place, but since he recognizes the advance of inferior men in lines one and two, he deems it better to withdraw from the field for a time. Thus there is successful progress even in his retreat.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man recognizes the proper time for an admirable retirement with necessary amenities and without disagreeableness. Firmness in the rectitude of his purpose is necessary to guard against being misled by irrelevant issues.
Wing: Make your Retreat friendly but firm. Do not be drawn into irrelevant discussions or considerations concerning your decisions. A persevering withdrawal brings good fortune.
Editor: Both Legge and Blofeld use the concept of rectification in their translations of the Confucian commentary. [Rectify: 1.a: to make or set right: remedy. 2.a: to restore to a healthy state.] The idea is that one must pleasantly but firmly disassociate oneself from an inferior alliance -- the only hope of improvement lies in withdrawal from the scene.
A faultless person is one who withdraws from affairs. This must be done with strength. Yamamoto Tsunetomo -- The Book of the Samurai
A. Withdraw to make correct – don’t make a big deal of it.
B. The integrity of the Work demands a withdrawal from an inferior alliance.
Line 6
Legge: The sixth line, dynamic, shows its subject retiring in a noble way. It will be advantageous in every respect.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Cheerful retreat. Everything serves to further.
Blofeld: A "sleek" withdrawal -- everything is favorable! [The Chinese commentators suggest that this means going to live in retirement. They add that the phrase also implies excellent health.]
Liu: Retreat after success. Everything is favorable.
Ritsema/Karcher: Rich Retiring, without not Harvesting.
Shaughnessy: Fattened wielding; there is nothing not beneficial.
Cleary (1): Rich withdrawal is wholly beneficial.
Cleary (2): Withdrawal of the rich is beneficial to all.
Wu: Retreat at his leisure is never disadvantageous.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: He who does so has no doubts about his course. Wilhelm/ Baynes: Because there is no longer any possibility of doubt. Blofeld: In this case, there cannot be the smallest doubt. [I.e. not the smallest doubt as to the wisdom of withdrawal.] Ritsema/Karcher: Without a place to doubt indeed. Cleary (2): Wu: His mind is free from doubt.
Legge: Line six is dynamic, with no correlate in line three to detain him. He vigorously and happily carries out the idea of the hexagram.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: No doubt exists as to the need for retirement. The man resigns in a gracious manner.
Wing: You are sufficiently removed from the situation and able to Retreat without guilt or doubt. Here you are blessed with great good fortune. You will find rewarding success in your endeavors.
Editor: The image suggests that you already know what to do in the situation at hand -- remove yourself without further ado.
It is because [the Sage] does not contend that no one in the world can contend against him. Lao-Tse
A. You can remove yourself from the situation at hand with a clear conscience.
B. Do not hesitate to abandon an inferior idea immediately.
C. Image of a high-minded or spiritually motivated withdrawal.
Other titles: The Symbol of Rising and Advancing, Ascending, Ascension, Rising, Promotion, Advancement, Sprouting from the Earth, Organic Growth
Judgment
Legge:Pushing Upward means successful progress. Have no anxiety about meeting with the great man. An advance to the south is fortunate.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Pushing Upward has supreme success. One must see the great man. Fear not. Departure toward the south brings good fortune.
Blofeld: Ascending. Supreme success! It is essential to see a great man, so as to banish anxiety. Progressing towards the south brings good fortune.
Liu: Ascending. Great Success. One should see a great man. Without fear. An expedition to the south leads to good fortune.
Ritsema/Karcher:Ascending, Spring Growing. Availing-of visualizing Great People. No cares. The South, chastising significant. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of rising to a higher level. It emphasizes that setting a higher goal and working toward it step by step is the adequate way to handle it. To be in accord with the time, you are told to: ascend!]
Shaughnessy:Ascending: Prime receipt; beneficial to see the great man. Do not pity. For the southern campaign, auspicious.
Cleary(1): Rising is greatly developmental; it calls for seeing a great person, so there will be no grief. An expedition south brings good fortune.
Cleary (2):Rising is very successful, etc.
Wu:Ascension indicates great pervasion. It will be useful to see the great man. No anxiety. It will be auspicious to go south.
The Image
Legge: Wood growing in the earth -- the image of Pushing Upward. The superior man accumulates small increments of virtue until it becomes high and great.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Within the earth, wood grows: the image of Pushing Upward. Thus the superior man of devoted character heaps up small things in order to achieve something high and great.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes tress growing upwards from the earth. The Superior Man most willingly accords with virtuous ways; starting from small things, he accumulates a great heap of merit.
Liu: The wood grows in the earth, symbolizing Ascending. The superior man devotes his virtue to building things up from the small to the high and great.
Ritsema/Karcher: Earth center giving-birth-to wood. Ascending. A chun tzu uses yielding to actualize-tao. A chun tzu uses amassing the small to use the high great.
[Actualize-tao: ...ability to follow the course traced by the ongoing process of the cosmos... Linked with acquire, TE: acquiring that which makes a being become what it is meant to be.]
Cleary (1): Trees grow on the earth, rising. Thus do superior people follow virtue, accumulating the small to lofty greatness.
Wu: Trees grow from earth; this is Ascension. Thus the Jun zi diligently cultivates his virtues little by little to become tall and large like trees growing.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The magnetic line ascends as opportunity permits. We have Flexibility, Obedience and a dynamic line below with his magnetic correlate above: this means successful progress. See the great man -- his will is accomplished in the south.
Legge: The character for this hexagram means advancing in an upward direction, or ascending. The figure symbolizes the promotion of an able officer to the highest pinnacle of distinction. The action of the dynamic second line is tempered by being in the magnetic central position of the lower trigram. As the representative of Pushing Upward he is forceful, yet modest and the magnetic fifth line ruler welcomes his advance. The officer therefore has the qualities that fit him to ascend as well as a favorable opportunity to do so.
After he has met with the "great man" in line five, advance to the south will be fortunate. Chu Hsi says that this is equivalent to "advancing forwards.” Since the south is the region of brightness and warmth, the progress will be easy and agreeable.
The lower trigram symbolizes Wood, and its weak first line is the root of a tree buried in the earth of the upper trigram. The gradual growth of this root pushes the trunk upward as the circumstances of time permit.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Ascend in accordance with the will of the Self. Turn toward clarity.
The Superior Man grows a little every day.
The image of the 46th hexagram is of a plant growing in the earth, gradually pushing upward toward the sun. That "an advance to the south is fortunate" means that as all plants turn southward toward the sun, their source of nourishment, so should we turn toward the light and clarity of the "great man" or Self within us.
The upward advancement of the Work is an organic process. There is no such thing as "instant enlightenment." The many stories and parables of instant Satori which are common in the Zen Buddhist tradition are actually just dramatic accounts of the final few moments' resolution that come after a lifetime of slow and patient devotion. The Work progresses at the pace of a tree -- what started out as an acorn eventually becomes a forest giant, but it doesn't happen overnight.
Remember ever that Mind in its entirety is ever the Builder. For it is step by step, line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, there a little, that the attaining is accomplished in the mental, the spiritual, the material applications of an entity in this material world. Edgar Cayce – Book of Changes
This slow growth is an accumulation of countless "gathering togethers" as depicted in the preceding hexagram, of whichPushing Upward is the upside-down image. It is estimated that an adult human being grows from a single cell to about one-hundred billion cells through a process of fifty-billion mitotic divisions. It is interesting to observe that "one-hundred-billion" is the scientific estimate of the number of stars in any given galaxy. If we apply the Hermetic Axiom: "As above, so below" to this relationship of macrocosm to microcosm we get the image of our solar system as a single atom in the "body" of a galactic entity.
That should put the Work into perspective!
Understand that thou art a second little world and that the sun and the moon are within thee, and also the stars. Origen --Homiliae in Leviticum