復 → 姤
Hexagram 24: Return → Hexagram 44: Coming to Meet
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 6 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6).
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.
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
行如桀紂，雖禱不祥。命衰絕周，文王乏祀。
Acting like Jie and Zhou; though one prays, no blessing comes. The mandate wanes, cut off at Zhou; King Wen's line lacks sacrifice.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder returns beneath the earth, but the returning figure acts like the tyrants Jie and Zhou — and though he prays, no blessing comes. Heaven's mandate has exhausted the line of Zhou, and King Wen's sacrifices cease. The verse collapses two dynastic falls into a single warning: behave as Jie and Zhou behaved, and even prayer becomes futile; lose the mandate, and even the great King Wen's line will see its altars go cold. From Return to Coming to Meet, heaven above wind, the ruler's decree spreading in all directions. The transformation carries a chilling irony: the yin line entering from below (Coming to Meet's structure) mirrors the corruption that creeps into governance. What appears as encounter may be contamination.
The Six Lines app includes all 4,096 Yilin verses, each with original ink brush artwork and full commentary. Download on the App Store