兌 → 復
Hexagram 58: The Joyous Lake → Hexagram 24: Return
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 2, 4, 5).
Line 2
九二 孚兌吉。悔亡。
Nine in the second place means: Sincere joyousness. Good fortune. Remorse disappears.
Line 4
九四 商兌未寧。介疾有喜。
Nine in the fourth place means: Joyousness that is weighed is not at peace. After ridding himself of mistakes a man has joy.
Line 5
九五 孚于剝。有厲。
Nine in the fifth place means: Sincerity toward disintegrating influences is dangerous.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
雄處弱水，雌在海邊。別離將食，哀悲於心。
The male dwells by the Weak Water, the female by the sea's edge. Parted when they should be feeding together; grief and sorrow fill the heart.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Paired lakes divide as the male bird dwells at Weak Water while the female perches by the sea. Separated on the eve of feeding, sorrow fills the heart. Weak Water, the mythological river near Kunlun too thin to float a feather, represents an impassable divide. The mated birds cannot reunite across this cosmic barrier. From The Joyous to Return, the verse maps longing onto the structure of cyclical renewal. Thunder stirs beneath the earth at the winter solstice — the first pulse of return. The separation is not permanent but seasonal; the pain of parting carries within it the promise of eventual reunion, as all things must return to their origin.
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