屯 → 復
Hexagram 3: Difficulty at the Beginning → Hexagram 24: Return
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 1 changing line (line 5).
Line 5
九五 屯其膏。小貞吉。大貞凶。
Nine in the fifth place means: Difficulties in blessing. A little perseverance brings good fortune. Great perseverance brings misfortune.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
牧羊稻園，聞虎呻喧。懼畏惕息，終無禍患。
Herding sheep in the rice paddies, one hears the tiger’s growling roar. Fearful and holding one’s breath; yet in the end, no disaster befalls.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Clouds and thunder give way to thunder returning within the earth: initial difficulty cycles back to renewal. A shepherd tends his flock in a rice field when a tiger's roar shakes the air. Fear grips his breath and his heart pounds, but in the end no disaster comes. The terror is real but ultimately passes; the threat announces itself and withdraws. From Difficulty at the Beginning to Return, the one yang line re-enters at the bottom, signaling the first stirring of recovery after a dark period. The tiger's roar represents the lingering menace of difficulty, but the verse's resolution confirms that the danger will not materialize. Vigilant fear, rather than panicked flight, is the correct stance as life begins to reassert itself.
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