蒙 → 復
Hexagram 4: Youthful Folly → Hexagram 24: Return
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 6).
Line 1
初六 發蒙。利用刑人。用說桎梏。以往吝。
Six at the beginning means: To make a fool develop It furthers one to apply discipline. The fetters should be removed. To go on in this way bring humiliation.
Line 2
九二 包蒙吉。納婦吉。子克家。
Nine in the second place means: To bear with fools in kindliness brings good fortune. To know how to take women Brings good fortune. The son is capable of taking charge of the household.
Line 6
上九 擊蒙。不利為寇。利禦寇。
Nine at the top means: In punishing folly It does not further one To commit transgressions. The only thing that furthers Is to prevent transgressions.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
獐鹿雉兔，群聚東囿。盧黃白脊，俱往趨逐。九齚十得，君子有喜。
Roe, deer, pheasant, and rabbit gather in the eastern preserve. Hounds—tawny, yellow, white-backed—all go in pursuit. Of nine that are bitten, ten are caught; the noble man has joy.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
A spring beneath the mountain opens onto a royal hunting ground teeming with game. Roe deer, regular deer, pheasants, and hares gather in the eastern park. Hounds of black, yellow, and white-ridged coats chase them down together; nine bites yield ten catches, and the lord rejoices. The imagery is of effortless abundance — prey so plentiful that the hunt succeeds beyond expectation. From Youthful Folly to Return, the transformation captures the moment when latent energy surges back. Thunder stirs beneath the earth at the winter solstice; what was dormant now multiplies. The naif's confusion gives way to instinctive vitality, like hounds released into a park where everything runs toward them.
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