困 → 復
Hexagram 47: Oppression → Hexagram 24: Return
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 4, 5).
Line 1
初六 臀困于株木。入于幽谷。三歲不覿。
Six at the beginning means: One sits oppressed under a bare tree And strays into a gloomy valley. For three years one sees nothing.
Line 2
九二 困于酒食。朱紱方來。利用享祀。征凶无咎。
Nine in the second place means: One is oppressed while at meat and drink. The man with the scarlet knee bands is just coming. It furthers one to offer sacrifice. To set forth brings misfortune. No blame.
Line 4
九四 來徐徐。困于金車。吝。有終。
Nine in the fourth place means: He comes very quietly, oppressed in a golden carriage. Humiliation, but the end is reached.
Line 5
九五 劓刖。困于赤紱。乃徐有說。利用祭祀。
Nine in the fifth place means: His nose and feet are cut off. Oppression at the hands of the man with the purple knee bands. Joy comes softly. It furthers one to make offerings and libations.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
同本異葉，樂仁尚德。東鄰慕義，來興吾國。
Sharing the same root yet bearing different leaves, delighting in benevolence and esteeming virtue. The eastern neighbor admires righteousness and comes to prosper our state.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
A lake without water: trees share the same root but bear different leaves. They delight in benevolence and esteem virtue. The eastern neighbor, admiring righteousness, comes to revitalize our state. The image of a common root with divergent branches captures the ideal of unity in diversity: different peoples, different customs, but a shared moral foundation. The eastern neighbor who voluntarily draws near echoes the classical Confucian theme that virtue attracts without coercion. From Oppression to Return, thunder stirs within the earth, marking the winter solstice when yang's first pulse revives. The neighbor's arrival is precisely this returning pulse: virtue, long dormant beneath oppression, sends its first signal outward, and those who recognize it come of their own accord.
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