復 → 困
Hexagram 24: Return → Hexagram 47: Oppression
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 4, 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 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.
Line 5
六五 敦復。无悔。
Six in the fifth place means: Noblehearted return. No remorse.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
求犬得兔，請新遇故。雖不當路，踰吾舊舍。
Seeking a dog, one catches a rabbit; asking for the new, one meets the old. Though it is not the intended road; it surpasses my former dwelling.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder returns beneath the earth in a scene of unexpected substitutions. Seeking a dog, one catches a hare; requesting something new, one encounters the familiar. Though the path is not the main road, it still leads past one's old dwelling. Nothing arrives as planned, yet every substitute proves adequate — the hare serves as well as the dog, the old friend replaces the new acquaintance, and the back road passes home. From Return to Oppression, lake above water, the pool drained dry. The transformation suggests that oppression's peculiar mercy lies in forcing improvisation: when the intended path is blocked, the detour through familiar ground provides its own comfort, and what was sought is found in what was already known.
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