CLASSICAL CHINESE
The source anchor
Read the source first. The English layer below remains accountable to these passages rather than replacing them with a simplified verdict.
卦辞 · Judgment遁：亨。小利贞。
Close renderingRetreat: success. In small matters, favorable to remain correct.
《大象》 · Image天下有山，遁；君子以远小人，不恶而严。
Close renderingMountain below Heaven: Retreat. The noble person therefore keeps distance from petty people, not with hatred but with firmness.
How to read the middle layerClose rendering stays near wording and sequence. It is not presented as the only possible translation; the cultural reading below is where Astro I Ching explains image, structure, and practical logic in fuller English.
ASTRO I CHING · CULTURAL READING
Why this hexagram says what it says
Heaven stands above Mountain: height and withdrawal exist together. Dun treats retreat as an active way to preserve principle, ability, and future room when opposing force is rising.
Cultural reading of the judgmentWithdrawal does not erase direction. It reduces unnecessary entanglement, clarifies what can still be protected, and keeps smaller forms of integrity intact until conditions change.
Keep the classical text and the interpretive layer separate: one is the source, the other is Astro I Ching's explanation of how the source can be read.
Open the full Chinese source page