大畜 → 復
Hexagram 26: Great Taming → Hexagram 24: Return
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 2, 3, 6).
Line 2
九二 輿說輹。
Nine in the second place means: The axletrees are taken from the wagon.
Line 3
九三 良馬逐。利艱貞。曰閑輿衛。利有攸往。
Nine in the third place means. A good horse that follows others. Awareness of danger, With perseverance, furthers. Practice chariot driving and armed defense daily. It furthers one to have somewhere to go.
Line 6
上九 何天之衢。亨。
Nine at the top means: One attains the way of heaven. Success.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
狼虎結集，相聚為保。伺嚙牛羊，道絕不通。病我商人。
Wolves and tigers mass together, banding for mutual protection. They lie in wait to prey on cattle and sheep; the road is severed, impassable. They afflict our merchants.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Heaven stored within the mountain becomes thunder returning within the earth — Return. Wolves and tigers gather in packs for mutual protection, lying in wait to prey on cattle and sheep. The road is utterly cut off with no passage through. Merchants fall ill from the strain. The verse depicts predatory forces that have organized themselves into a blocking formation, transforming the mountain's stored power into roadside menace. From Great Taming to Return, the mountain's heaven enters the earth as a single yang line returns at the bottom — the first stirring of renewal. But renewal arrives into a landscape dominated by predators. The merchant's misfortune warns that even when the cycle turns, the way forward remains dangerous until the wolves disperse.
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