復 → 豫
Hexagram 24: Return → Hexagram 16: Enthusiasm
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 1, 4).
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 4
六四 中行獨復。
Six in the fourth place means: Walking in the midst of others, One returns alone.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
卵與石鬭，麋碎無處。挈瓶之使，不為憂懼。
An egg battles a stone; smashed to bits, nothing left. A humble water-bearer on a mission; he does not worry or fear.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder returns beneath the earth as an egg fights a stone — smashed to nothing, no fragment left. The idiom 'egg against stone' is among the most ancient images of futile contest: the weak challenging the overwhelmingly strong can only end in annihilation. Yet the verse pivots with a curious calm: 'The envoy carrying a water jug feels no fear.' This alludes to the humble functionary who, precisely because he carries nothing of value, passes through danger unscathed. From Return to Enthusiasm, thunder erupts above the earth in joyful release. The transformation suggests that what shatters the ambitious emboldens the modest — those who carry only what they need move through upheaval untroubled.
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