復 → 噬嗑
Hexagram 24: Return → Hexagram 21: Biting Through
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 4, 6).
Line 4
六四 中行獨復。
Six in the fourth place means: Walking in the midst of others, One returns alone.
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
逐禽出門，并失玉丸。往來井上，破甑缺盆。
Chasing game out the gate, losing the jade ball as well. Going and coming by the well; the steamer cracked, the basin chipped.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder returns beneath the earth, but the homeward chase yields only loss. Pursuing game out the door, one loses a precious jade pellet in the bargain. Going back and forth at the well, the cooking pot cracks and the basin chips. Every act of grasping produces breakage: the hunter loses more than the quarry is worth, and domestic vessels shatter under ordinary use. The well — an image of daily sustenance — becomes a site of attrition. From Return to Biting Through, fire and thunder combine to enforce justice and clarity. The transformation suggests that these petty losses signal a deeper misalignment: only decisive intervention, biting through the obstruction, can halt the cascade of small disasters.
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