復 → 乾
Hexagram 24: Return → Hexagram 1: The Creative
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 5 changing lines (lines 2, 3, 4, 5, 6).
Line 2
六二 休復。吉。
Six in the second place means: Quiet return. Good fortune.
Line 3
六三 頻復。厲。无咎。
Six in the third place means: Repeated return. Danger. No blame.
Line 4
六四 中行獨復。
Six in the fourth place means: Walking in the midst of others, One returns alone.
Line 5
六五 敦復。无悔。
Six in the fifth place means: Noblehearted return. No remorse.
Line 6
上六 迷復。凶。有災眚。用行師。終有大敗。以其國君凶。至于十年不克征。
Six at the top means: Missing the return. Misfortune. Misfortune from within and without. If armies are set marching in this way, One will in the end suffer a great defeat, Disastrous for the ruler of the country. For ten years It will not be possible to attack again.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
任重負力，東征不伏。陷泥履塗，雄師敗覆。
Bearing heavy loads with failing strength, the eastern campaign meets no submission. Mired in mud, treading through muck; the mighty army is routed and overturned.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder stirs beneath the earth, the first yang returning — yet this return carries a burden too heavy for the road. An army marches east with overwhelming force, but strength alone cannot guarantee victory. Wagons sink into mud, boots churn through mire, and the proud host collapses in disarray. The verse evokes campaigns where logistical overreach undoes military ambition: supplies outstrip supply lines, and confidence curdles into catastrophe. From Return to the Creative, the transformation warns that heaven's self-generating power demands alignment, not mere exertion. The yang impulse returning must find its proper channel; raw force misdirected exhausts itself in the swamp.
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