The I Ching, Legge tr.

The I Ching, Legge tr.: Text Section II: XXXIII. The Thun...

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This is a classical commentary on Hexagram 33 (Thun, "Retreat") from the I Ching, the ancient Chinese divination classic, presenting both the primary oracular text and a line-by-line interpretive gloss in the tradition of the Ten Wings commentary. The hexagram's central argument is that when petty or unprincipled people gain power in a state, the correct response for virtuous people is strategic withdrawal rather than resistance — retreat is not defeat but a morally disciplined act. The commentary reads each of the six line positions as stages or modes of retreat, ranging from a panicked flight (line 1, inauspicious) to a noble and complete withdrawal (line 6, fully auspicious), with the quality of the retreat determining its outcome. A distinctive claim runs throughout: firm correctness can partially arrest the advance of small men, so the hexagram's omen is not entirely bad, and superior people who disengage cleanly fare well while those who linger or grow too familiar with inferiors are ensnared. The commentary draws on Confucian ethical vocabulary — the contrast between the "superior man" and the "small man" is load-bearing — and cites the Analects and the Shû (Book of Documents) to anchor its readings in classical precedent. Readers interested in I Ching interpretation, Confucian political ethics, or the hermeneutics of Chinese divination texts will find this a compact, representative example of the genre.

The I Ching, Legge tr.: Text Section II: XXXIII. The Thun...

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