復 → 中孚
Hexagram 24: Return → Hexagram 61: Inner Truth
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 2, 5, 6).
Line 2
六二 休復。吉。
Six in the second place means: Quiet return. Good fortune.
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
三人俱行，各別採桑。蘊其筐莒，留我嘉旅。得歸無咎，四月來處。
Three people travel together; each goes separately to gather mulberry. Storing it in baskets and hampers; leave behind our fine companions. Returning home without fault; in the fourth month, they come to stay.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder returns beneath the earth as three companions walk together, each gathering mulberry leaves separately. They fill their baskets and hampers, and the good company is preserved. The traveler returns home without blame, arriving in the fourth month. The mulberry harvest is both practical (silkworm fodder) and symbolic — the Shijing's 'among the mulberries' carries associations of meetings, seasonal labor, and communal purpose. Three people working side by side yet each tending their own task captures the essence of trust: proximity without interference, shared purpose without surveillance. From Return to Inner Truth, wind above lake, sincerity reaching even fish and pigs. The transformation connects faithful labor to authentic trust — the fourth month's safe return is earned by honest work done together.
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