需 → 復
Hexagram 5: Waiting → Hexagram 24: Return
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 2, 3, 5).
Line 2
九二 需于沙。小有言。終吉。
Nine in the second place means: Waiting on the sand. There is some gossip. The end brings good fortune.
Line 3
九三 需于泥。致寇至。
Nine in the third place means: Waiting in the mud Brings about the arrival of the enemy.
Line 5
九五 需于酒食。貞吉。
Nine in the fifth place means: Waiting at meat and drink. Perseverance brings good fortune.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
凶禍災殃，日益明彰。福不可釐，三郤夷傷。
Calamity and disaster; daily growing more manifest. Blessings cannot be had; the three Xi are wounded and brought low.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Clouds above heaven give way to thunder returning within the earth. Misfortune and calamity grow clearer by the day, their evidence mounting. Blessings cannot be restored, and the Three Xi are wounded and destroyed. The 'Three Xi' refers to Xi Qi, Xi Chou, and Xi Zhi — three powerful ministers of the Xi clan in Jin who held three of the state's highest military commands simultaneously. In 574 BC, Duke Li of Jin conspired with Luan Shu to have all three assassinated on a single day, eliminating a dangerously overgrown faction. From Waiting to Return, the thunder buried in the earth stirs: what seemed dormant erupts, and the return is not of good fortune but of consequences long accumulating beneath the surface.
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