Hexagram 24: Fù (Return)

The Judgment

Fu 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.

复：亨。出入无疾，朋来无咎。反复其道，七日来复，利有攸往。

Commentary on the Judgment (Tuan)

'Fu indicates the free course and progress (of what it denotes):' - it is the coming back of what is intended by the undivided line. (Its subject's) actions show movement directed by accordance with natural order. Hence 'he finds no one to distress him in his exits and entrances,' and 'friends come to him, and no error is committed.' 'He will return and repeat his proper course; in seven days comes his return:' - such is the movement of the heavenly (revolution). 'There will be advantage in whatever direction movement is made: - the strong lines are growing and increasing. Do we not see in Fu the mind of heaven and earth?

彖曰：复，亨。刚反，动而以顺行，是以出入无疾，朋来无咎。反复其道，七日来复，天行也。利有攸往，刚长也。复，其见天地之心乎！

The Great Image

(The trigram representing) the earth and that for thunder in the midst of it form Fu. The ancient kings, in accordance with this, on the day. of the (winter) solstice, shut the gates of the passes (from one state to another), so that the travelling merchants could not (then) pursue their journeys, nor the princes go on with the inspection of their states.

象曰：雷在地中，复；先王以至日闭关，商旅不行，后不省方。

The six lines

1. Line 1 (first): The first NINE, undivided, shows its subject returning (from an error) of no great extent, which would not proceed to anything requiring repentance. There will be great good fortune.

   'Returning (from an error) of no great extent' is the prelude to the cultivation of the person.

   In plain words: Returning before going far; no great regret: supreme good fortune. The first line is the only yang line of the hexagram: yang comes back, returning to the right way before straying far. The Great Commentary cites Yan Hui: whenever he did wrong he knew it, and once he knew it he never did it again. The Small Image calls this the way to cultivate oneself.

   初九：不远复，无祇悔，元吉。 象曰：不远之复，以修身也。

2. Line 2 (second): The second SIX, divided, shows the admirable return (of its subject). There will be good fortune.

   'The good fortune attendant on the admirable return (of the subject of the second line)' is due to his condescension to the virtuous (subject of the line) below.

   In plain words: A fine return: good fortune. The second line is central and correct and right next to the first line; it draws close to the humane and returns to the right way. The Small Image says this is because it humbly draws near to the humane.

   六二：休复，吉。 象曰：休复之吉，以下仁也。

3. Line 3 (third): The third SIX, divided, shows one who has made repeated returns. The position is perilous, but there will be no error.

   Notwithstanding 'the perilous position of him who has made many returns,' there will be no error through (his aiming after righteousness).

   In plain words: Returning again and again: danger, but no fault. The third line is neither central nor correct and keeps wavering, but it does come back. The Small Image says in principle there is no fault.

   六三：频复，厉无咎。 象曰：频复之厉，义无咎也。

4. Line 4 (fourth): The fourth SIX, divided, shows its subject moving right in the centre (among those represented by the other divided lines), and yet returning alone (to his proper path).

   'He moves right in the centre (among those represented by the other divided lines), and yet returns alone:' - his object is to pursue the (proper) path.

   In plain words: Walking in the middle of the group, returning alone. The fourth line is in the middle of five yin lines, and only it corresponds to the first; it returns on its own. The Small Image says this is following the way.

   六四：中行独复。 象曰：中行独复，以从道也。

5. Line 5 (fifth): The fifth SIX, divided, shows the noble return of its subject. There will be no ground for repentance.

   'The noble return, giving no ground for repentance,' is due to (the subject of the line) striving to perfect himself in accordance with his central position.

   In plain words: A generous, wholehearted return: no regret. The fifth line is central and can examine itself honestly and return. The Small Image says it examines itself by the middle way.

   六五：敦复，无悔。 象曰：敦复无悔，中以自考也。

6. Line 6 (sixth (top)): The topmost SIX, divided, shows its subject all astray on the subject of returning. There will be evil. There will be calamities and errors. If with his views he put the hosts in motion, the end will be a great defeat, whose issues will extend to the ruler of the state. Even in ten years he will not be able to repair the disaster.

   'The evil consequent on being all astray on the subject of returning' is because the course pursued is contrary to the proper course for a ruler.

   In plain words: Missing the way back: misfortune and disaster. If armies are set in motion, there will be a great defeat in the end, bringing misfortune to the ruler of the state too; for ten years no campaign can be made. The top line is at the end of the hexagram, furthest from the first line, lost and not returning. The Small Image says this goes against the way of a ruler.

   上六：迷复，凶，有灾眚。用行师，终有大败，以其国君，凶；至于十年，不克征。 象曰：迷复之凶，反君道也。

Line positions

4 of the six lines stand in their proper place (strong lines in odd places, weak lines in even places).

The second and fifth lines hold the central places of the lower and upper trigrams; both are weak, so they do not correspond.

Of the three pairs of corresponding places (first and fourth, second and fifth, third and top), 1 pair is made of one strong and one weak line.

Strong lines belong in odd places and weak lines in even places; the second and fifth are the central places; first and fourth, second and fifth, third and top correspond, and they "respond" when one is strong and the other weak.

These are structural conventions, not scores of good or bad fortune. Commentators differ: Wang Bi treats the first and top places as beginning and end without fixed yin or yang positions. Read each line with its Small Image and the whole hexagram.

Place in Jing Fang's eight palaces

Jing Fang grouped the 64 hexagrams into eight "palaces" of eight, each headed by a doubled trigram. Changing the lines of the head hexagram one by one from the bottom gives the next five; the last two are the "wandering soul" and "returning soul" hexagrams. The Kun palace runs: Kūn (head), Fù (1st change), Lín (2nd change), Tài (3rd change), Dà Zhuàng (4th change), Guài (5th change), Xū (wandering soul), Bǐ (returning soul).

The twelve waxing and waning hexagrams

This is one of the twelve "waxing and waning" hexagrams, matched to the eleventh month of the Chinese lunar calendar. The series starts from Fu, with one strong line returning at the bottom, grows to Qian, then gives way to weak lines until Kun, tracing the rise and fall of yang through the year; it belongs to the Han-dynasty gua qi system of Meng Xi and Jing Fang.

A recorded case from Takashima

Fu to Kun: buying a carriage horse: Takashima wanted a carriage horse, and Kodama Shōsuke happened to have a Nanbu horse to sell. Casting on it, he got the first line of Fu, "returning from not far". He read it as a horse for short trips rather than long journeys, and from the changed hexagram Kun, "the steadfastness of a mare", inferred a gentle mare.

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English text: James Legge, The Yi King (Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16, 1882), public domain, as transcribed by the Chinese Text Project. Chinese: the received text. Offered for study and reflection, not as prediction.

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