Hexagram 24 as yes or no
Hexagram 24 Returning as a yes-or-no answer
As an answer to a 'should I' question, Fu says yes if what you are asking about is a return — going back to a plan, a person, a path or a principle you left — and the judgment is generous: 'going out and coming in without harm, friends come, favourable to have somewhere to go.' If the question is whether to launch something large and new, the answer is 'not yet': the Great Image shuts the gates at the solstice, and the one strong line is still at the bottom.
A changing line in the lower trigram, Zhen, is the return beginning: at once (line one), by following someone who has turned (line two), again after a lapse (line three) — all say turn back now. In the upper trigram, Kun, the test is how the return is made: alone against the drift (line four), by self-examination (line five), or not at all. If the top line moves, the answer is a flat no to any forceful advance; the way back has been missed and the only decision left is to stop.
The hexagram in brief
Thunder within the earth: the solstice, one yang line returning at the bottom. The turn has come — friends arrive, going out and coming in without harm, the way comes back in seven days.
Welcome the turning gently; don't force the new growth, and return to the right path early when you stray.
The judgment
復：亨。出入无疾，朋來无咎。反復其道，七日來復，利有攸往。Fû indicates that there will be free course and progress (in what it denotes). (The subject of it) finds no one to distress him in his exits and entrances; friends come to him, and no error is committed. He will return and repeat his (proper) course. In seven days comes his return. There will be advantage in whatever direction movement is made.
Which line changed?
A changing line sharpens the answer. Each line of 復 Returning has its own page:
- 初九Nine at the beginningreturn before going far · no regret · the ruler of Return
- 六二Six in the second placea fine return · yielding to the good · next to the yang
- 六三Six in the third placerepeated return · danger · no blame
- 六四Six in the fourth placereturning alone · midway among the many · following the way
- 六五Six in the fifth placeearnest return · self-examination · central
- 上六Six at the toplost return · calamity · against the ruler's way
The same hexagram for
Questions
- Does hexagram 24, Returning, mean yes or no?
- As an answer to a 'should I' question, Fu says yes if what you are asking about is a return — going back to a plan, a person, a path or a principle you left — and the judgment is generous: 'going out and coming in without harm, friends come, favourable to have somewhere to go.' If the question is whether to launch something large and new, the answer is 'not yet': the Great Image shuts the gates at the solstice, and the one strong line is still at the bottom.
- What does Hexagram 24, 復 Returning, mean?
- Thunder within the earth: the solstice, one yang line returning at the bottom. The turn has come — friends arrive, going out and coming in without harm, the way comes back in seven days.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi (Wuyingdian lineage). English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East XVI, 1882 (public domain).