恆 → 復
Hexagram 32: Duration → Hexagram 24: Return
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 4).
Line 1
初六 浚恆貞凶。无攸利。
Six at the beginning means: Seeking duration too hastily brings misfortune persistently. Nothing that would further.
Line 2
九二 悔亡。
Nine in the second place means: Remorse disappears.
Line 3
九三 不恆其德。或承之羞。貞吝。
Nine in the third place means: He who does not give duration to his character Meets with disgrace. Persistent humiliation.
Line 4
九四 田无禽。
Nine in the fourth place means: No game in the field.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
阿衡服箱，太乙載行，逃時歷舍，所之吉昌。
Yi Yin bore the yoke and carried loads; Tai Yi set forth on his journey. Fleeing the times, passing through many lodgings; wherever he went, fortune and glory.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder above wind, Duration's unwavering pattern, opens into earth above thunder — Return's first stirring of renewal. The Aheng yokes himself to the cart; the Supreme One sets forth on his journey. Fleeing through the night, passing shelter after shelter, wherever he goes proves auspicious. 'Aheng' is the title of Yi Yin, the sage minister who helped King Tang found the Shang dynasty — originally a cook from the Youshen clan who carried his pots and pans in a cart to present himself at court. The 'Supreme One' (Taiyi) suggests both the cosmic deity and Tang's campaign to overthrow the Xia. From Duration to Return, the enduring pattern of oppression finally breaks: the thunder stirs beneath the earth, and the patient servant's long journey reaches its destination. Constancy in exile becomes the foundation of dynastic renewal.
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