復 → 履
Hexagram 24: Return → Hexagram 10: Treading
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 2, 4, 5, 6).
Line 2
六二 休復。吉。
Six in the second place means: Quiet return. Good fortune.
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
十五許室，柔順有德。霜降既嫁，文以為合。先王日至，不利出域。
At fifteen she is betrothed; gentle and virtuous. When frost falls she is wed; propriety seals the match. The former king's day arrives; it is not auspicious to venture abroad.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder returns beneath the earth as a maiden of fifteen is promised in marriage. She is gentle and virtuous, wedded after the Frost Descent — the season when autumn solidifies into early winter. 'Pattern makes the match' suggests propriety and ritual correctness govern the union. The verse then invokes the ancient kings' solstice observance: on the day of return, gates close and travelers cease their journeys, for the nascent yang must be protected. From Return to Treading, heaven above lake, one treads carefully upon the tail of the tiger. The transformation connects marriage rites to cosmic caution: at moments of tender beginning — a bride's first steps, the yang's first stirring — correct form and careful conduct determine whether the passage succeeds.
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