復 → 隨
Hexagram 24: Return → Hexagram 17: Following
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 4, 5).
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.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
五心六意，岐道多怪。非君本志，生我恨悔。
Five hearts, six minds; the forking road is full of strangeness. This is not your true intent; it breeds only hate and regret.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder returns beneath the earth, but the mind is fractured. Five hearts and six intentions pull in every direction at once; the forking road is full of strange sights that distract and disorient. None of this was the original plan — it breeds only regret and resentment. The verse captures paralysis by indecision: too many options dissolving into none, the traveler frozen at the crossroads. From Return to Following, lake above thunder, the yielding follows the arousing. The transformation diagnoses the problem: return requires a single direction, but following every impulse at once means following nothing. The remedy lies in choosing one path and yielding to its logic, accepting that commitment costs the roads not taken.
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