復 → 解
Hexagram 24: Return → Hexagram 40: Deliverance
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 4).
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 4
六四 中行獨復。
Six in the fourth place means: Walking in the midst of others, One returns alone.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
春桃萌生，萬物華榮。邦君所居，國樂無憂。
Spring peach trees bud and bloom; all things flower in glory. Where the lord of the land resides; the state rejoices without sorrow.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder returns beneath the earth as spring peach blossoms burst into life and all things flourish in splendor. The lord dwells in his domain, the state rejoices, and worry is absent. This is return at its most elemental and joyful — the first yang line expressed as spring itself, the dormant world waking into color and growth. No historical allusion is needed; the image is pure seasonal renewal. From Return to Deliverance, thunder and rain work together to release what has been bound. The transformation unfolds naturally: the peach blossom's opening mirrors the thunderstorm that clears the air. What was frozen thaws, what was trapped escapes, and the state rests in the ease of a problem resolved.
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