HEXAGRAM 33 and 34 

Picture at top: DÙN, the ancient character and its parts.
DÙN, RETREAT: The ideogram is shi3 pig (1) + rou4 meat (2), which is a suckling pig tun2, one raised to be eaten. Added to it at left: chuo4 'going': chi4 road (3) and zhi3 foot (4). Another old version of the character (5) shows a suckling pig being taken by a hand, or maybe held up or presented: a pig offered in sacrifice.
Meanings of DÙN: To escape, to run off, to hide, to go into obscurity, to conceal oneself; to cheat, deceive, impose upon, go into retirement (from public life), disappear, modest, humble. Dunren (retreat man): a suspicious person, dunxin (retreat heart): a revolting spirit (heart).

   The small characters at left below: words or compounds with DÙN
1 Mawangdui: (hand-determine) minor official; subordinate. The part translated as 'determine' is a hedge-hog (see 8 below).
2 (snout-pig) hedge hog. In the Wings it is the commentary or definition of the gua, the hexagrams.
3 (go-pig) to drive or push out pigs, to expel in general
4 (retreat diction) subterfuge; quibble
5 (pigs-fire) wild fire
6 (pig-enclosure) pigsty; privy
7 (retreat trace) rusticate; live like hermit
8 (submerge retreat) escape secretly; slip away
9 (retreat lifetime) lead life of recluse
10 (criminal-pig-beat power) willpower; The left side is from 'criminal' over 'pig'. The primitive meaning, says Karlgren, was "enraged pig". To this was added 'beat', to emphasize the violent determination of the wild boar.

Retreat is not so much about leaving something, but rather doing it another way. "Like a recluse", apart from the common way, or apart from the world. Get rid of attachments and ties.

Back to hex.33

The lines of hex.33

Associations of lines with historical figures (Wilhelm-Baynes p.565):

 33.1 to 13 The

33.2 to 44 The

33.3 to 12 The

33.4 to 53 The

33.5 to 56 The

33.6 to 31 The