復 → 謙
Hexagram 24: Return → Hexagram 15: Modesty
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 1, 3).
Line 1
初九 不遠復。无祗悔。元吉。
Nine at the beginning means: Return from a short distance. No need for remorse. Great good fortune.
Line 3
六三 頻復。厲。无咎。
Six in the third place means: Repeated return. Danger. No blame.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
虎狼並處，不可以仕。忠謀轉政，禍必及己。退隱深山，身乃不殆。
Dwelling among tigers and wolves; one must not serve. Loyal counsel turns the court; disaster will surely reach oneself. Retreat and hide in the deep mountains; only then is one safe from peril.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder returns beneath the earth, but the landscape above bristles with predators. Tigers and wolves share the same ground — this is no place to serve in office. Loyal counsel only redirects the storm toward oneself, and the faithful minister's stratagems bring disaster upon his own head. The only safety lies in withdrawing deep into the mountains, where the body escapes danger. This is the perennial wisdom of the Chinese recluse tradition: when the court is a den of beasts, retirement is not cowardice but survival. From Return to Modesty, the mountain hidden within the earth, the great made low. The transformation affirms the retreat: true return in a corrupt age means descending into humility, letting the mountain sink beneath the surface.
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