Hexagram 59: Dispersion → Hexagram 24: Return

Dispersion
Wind / Water
Return
Earth / Thunder
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 5, 6).

Line 1

初六 用拯馬壯吉。

yònguse
zhěngrelief
a horse
zhuàngis strong
promising

Six at the beginning means: He brings help with the strength of a horse. Good fortune.

Line 2

九二 渙奔其机。悔亡。

huànscatter
bēnbut
to one's own
support
huǐregret
wángpass

Nine in the second place means: At the dissolution He hurries to that which supports him. Remorse disappears.

Line 5

九五 渙汗其大號。渙。王居无咎。

huànevanescent
hànas
is
great
hàocrying
huànscatter
wángthe royal
stores
no
jiùblame

Nine in the fifth place means: His loud cries are as dissolving as sweat. Dissolution! A king abides without blame.

Line 6

上九 渙其血。去逖出。无咎。

huànscatter
one's own
xuèblood
depart
once
chūto re-emerge
no
jiùblame

Nine at the top means: He dissolves his blood. Departing, keeping at a distance, going out, Is without blame.

Trigram Changes

Upper TrigramWind EarthThe Gentle → The Receptive
Lower TrigramWater ThunderThe Deep → The Arousing

Yilin Verse

逶迤四牡,思歸念母。王事靡盬,不得安處。

The four stallions wind wearily onward; thoughts turn homeward to mother. The king's affairs never cease; one cannot find a place of rest.

— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE

Commentary

Wind over water disperses the weary traveler's strength. Four horses wind slowly forward as the driver's thoughts turn homeward to his mother. But the king's business never ends — there is no place to rest. This directly echoes the Shijing soldiers' lament tradition: conscripts driven endlessly on royal campaigns, longing for family they may never see again. Thunder stirring beneath the earth creates the image of Return — the solstice moment when a single yang line reappears at the base. From Dispersion to Return, the verse aches with the gap between longing and reality. The horses plod on, the mother waits at home, and Return's promise — that what departed will come back — remains heartbreakingly deferred by duty.

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