復 → 離
Hexagram 24: Return → Hexagram 30: The Clinging Fire
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 3, 4, 6).
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 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
桀跖並處，民困愁苦。行旅遲遲，留連齊魯。
Jie and Zhi dwell together; the people are weary and wretched. Travelers plod on and on; lingering between Qi and Lu.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder returns beneath the earth as the tyrant Jie and the brigand Zhi dwell side by side — the worst ruler and the worst outlaw sharing the same ground. The people are exhausted and grief-stricken. Travelers drag their feet, lingering unwillingly between Qi and Lu, unable to settle or advance. When tyranny and banditry coexist, even the roads between states become traps. From Return to The Clinging, doubled fire, brilliance upon brilliance. The transformation offers a grim irony: the fire of clarity illuminates a landscape of misery. When the light returns, what it reveals is not beauty but the full extent of suffering — yet seeing clearly is itself the first step toward change.
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