復 → 豐
Hexagram 24: Return → Hexagram 55: Abundance
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 3, 4).
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.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
九雁列陳，雌獨不群。為罾所牽，死於庖人。
Nine geese in formation; the lone female strays from the flock. Caught by the snare's pull; she dies at the cook's hand.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder returns beneath the earth as nine wild geese fly in formation, but one female strays from the flock. Snared by a net, she meets her end at the cook's hand. The lone goose separated from her companions is the most vulnerable — formation is survival, and isolation is death. The number nine suggests near-completeness: only one breaks away, and that single deviation proves fatal. From Return to Abundance, thunder and lightning arrive together in overwhelming fullness. The transformation carries an ominous edge: abundance itself can be the trap. The goose that strays toward plenty — extra grain, a separate pond — is the one the net catches. In times of surplus, the discipline of staying with the group matters more than ever.
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