復 → 蹇
Hexagram 24: Return → Hexagram 39: Obstruction
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 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 3
六三 頻復。厲。无咎。
Six in the third place means: Repeated return. Danger. No blame.
Line 5
六五 敦復。无悔。
Six in the fifth place means: Noblehearted return. No remorse.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
宛馬疾步，盲師坐御。目不見路，中止不到。
A fine horse at swift pace; a blind master sits as driver. Eyes cannot see the road; halting midway, never arriving.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder returns beneath the earth, but the rider is blind and the horse too swift. A fine steed from Wan gallops at full speed while a sightless driver holds the reins. Eyes cannot see the road; the journey halts midway, the destination unreached. The image is terrifyingly precise: speed without vision guarantees disaster. No amount of horsepower compensates for the inability to perceive where one is going. From Return to Obstruction, water atop the mountain, the path blocked above. The transformation doubles the futility: external obstacles meet internal blindness, and the wise response is to turn inward and cultivate virtue rather than press forward into what cannot be seen.
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