復 → 巽
Hexagram 24: Return → Hexagram 57: The Gentle Wind
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 5 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 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 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
閉塞復通，與善相逢。甘棠之人，解我憂凶。
Blocked and shut, then open again; meeting good fortune once more. The man of the sweet pear tree; he delivers us from worry and woe.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder returns beneath the earth as a blocked passage reopens and one meets with goodness on the road. The 'man of the sweet pear tree' resolves all worry and danger. This alludes to the Duke of Shao (召伯), celebrated in the Shijing ode 'Gan Tang,' who administered justice under a sweet pear tree. So beloved was he that after his death the people refused to cut the tree. His appearance in the verse signals rescue through virtuous governance — a just administrator who dissolves the traveler's distress. From Return to The Gentle, doubled wind penetrates everywhere. The transformation connects unblocking with the wind's pervasive influence: once the obstruction clears, benevolent authority flows through every corner like a gentle, persistent breeze.
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