同人 → 復
Hexagram 13: Fellowship → Hexagram 24: Return
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 3, 4, 5, 6).
Line 3
九三 伏戎于莽。升其高陵。三歲不興。
Nine in the third place means: He hides weapons in the thicket; He climbs the high hill in front of it. For three years he does not rise up.
Line 4
九四 乘其墉。弗克攻。吉。
Nine in the fourth place means: He climbs up on his wall; he cannot attack. Good fortune.
Line 5
九五 同人先號咷而後笑。大師克相遇。
Nine in the fifth place means: Men bound in fellowship first weep and lament, But afterward they laugh. After great struggles they succeed in meeting.
Line 6
上九 同人于郊。无悔。
Nine at the top means: Fellowship with men in the meadow. No remorse.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
把珠入口，為我畜寶；得吾所有，欣然嘉喜。
Placing a pearl in the mouth; it becomes my stored treasure. Gaining what I possess; I am glad and greatly pleased.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Heaven and fire form Fellowship, and a pearl is placed in the mouth — a treasure stored within the body itself. What one already possesses is recovered, and delight fills the heart. The pearl-in-mouth image evokes the ancient burial practice of placing jade in the deceased's mouth, but here it signifies living wealth: an inner treasure rediscovered. From Fellowship to Return, the transformation completes a circle. Thunder stirs beneath the earth in Return; the solstice moment when yang re-emerges. The pearl was always there — fellowship's gift is not acquisition but recognition. To return is to find what was never truly lost, and that finding brings the purest joy.
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