復 → 大過
Hexagram 24: Return → Hexagram 28: Great Exceeding
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 5 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 4, 5).
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 2
六二 休復。吉。
Six in the second place means: Quiet return. Good fortune.
Line 3
六三 頻復。厲。无咎。
Six in the third place means: Repeated return. Danger. No blame.
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
堯舜禹湯，四聖敦仁。允施德音，民安無窮。旅人相望，未同朝卿。
Yao, Shun, Yu, and Tang — four sages devoted to benevolence. Truly bestowing virtuous words; the people are secure without end. Travelers gaze at one another; they have not yet shared court and counsel.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder returns beneath the earth as the four sage-kings — Yao, Shun, Yu, and Tang — are invoked together, each devoted to benevolence. They faithfully spread virtuous influence, and the people live in boundless peace. Yet the verse closes with travelers gazing at one another from afar, not yet sharing the court of ministers — longing for a golden age witnessed but not yet joined. From Return to Great Exceeding, lake submerges the trees, the extraordinary act that stands alone. The transformation suggests that the sage-kings' virtue was itself a form of 'great exceeding' — surpassing ordinary human limits. The observer sees this greatness from a distance, aspiring but not yet arrived.
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