復 → 益
Hexagram 24: Return → Hexagram 42: Increase
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 5, 6).
Line 5
六五 敦復。无悔。
Six in the fifth place means: Noblehearted return. No remorse.
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
襦燒袴燔，臝剝飢寒，病瘧凍孿。
The jacket burns, the trousers catch fire; stripped bare, starving and cold — sick with fever, frozen and cramped.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder returns beneath the earth, but the return brings only desolation. Short jackets burn, trousers are set ablaze, and the figure is left stripped bare, starving and freezing. Disease strikes — malarial fever and convulsive chills wrack the body. The verse is brutally compressed: three images of destruction (fire, exposure, illness) in a single breath, leaving no room for recovery. From Return to Increase, wind and thunder work together as the gentleman corrects faults and cultivates virtue. The transformation offers a sharp contrast: where the verse shows only destruction, Increase promises augmentation. The implication is that even from absolute destitution, renewal remains possible — but only through the radical act of seeing one's faults clearly and changing course.
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