復 → 革
Hexagram 24: Return → Hexagram 49: Revolution
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 3, 4, 5).
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.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
天厭禹德，命興湯國。祓社釁鼓，以除民疾。
Heaven wearies of Yu's virtue; commanding the rise of Tang's state. Purifying the altars, anointing the drums with blood; to rid the people of affliction.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder returns beneath the earth as heaven grows weary of the Xia line's waning virtue and transfers its mandate to establish Tang's state. The altars are cleansed, the war drums anointed with sacrificial blood, and the people's afflictions are purged. This verse compresses the great dynastic revolution of Chinese antiquity: Yu's descendants lost the way, and King Tang of Shang arose to overthrow the tyrant Jie, founding a new order sanctified by ritual. From Return to Revolution, fire within the lake, opposing elements that catalyze transformation. The transformation is paradigmatic: return and revolution share a single pulse — the old mandate exhausted, a new one ignited. What appears as upheaval is heaven's way of returning the world to its proper course.
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