Hexagram 24: Return
復Fù
The light turns back around.
The passages below are historical language. Their references to fortune, danger, and the exemplary person belong to the text’s world. Our modern explanation is an invitation to reflect on your situation.
The Judgment
Classical Chinese
復。 亨。出入無疾，朋來無咎。反覆其道，七日來復，利有攸往。
Our English rendering
Return. Success. Going out and coming in are free from illness; friends arrive without blame. The course turns back upon itself; return comes after seven days. It is favorable to have somewhere to go.
The Image
Classical Chinese
象曰：雷在地中，復。先王以至日閉關，商旅不行，後不省方。
Our English rendering
Thunder is within the earth: Return. At the solstice, the early kings closed the passes. Merchants and travelers did not journey, and the ruler did not tour the regions.
Translation note: The seven-day return is retained as the text's ancient cycle language. In the Image, 'the solstice' renders the seasonal turning point, and 'the ruler' renders an archaic title for a sovereign.
A modern reading
Thunder lies inside the earth, where its movement has begun without yet filling the sky. Return gives a beginning room to be small. Something familiar can become available again: a neglected practice, a relationship worth revisiting, or an intention that survived a difficult period. The turning course in the Judgment describes recurrence. Its seven days belong to the ancient passage; they give the return a rhythm rather than a timetable for a modern question.
The Image meets renewal with a deliberate pause. Gates close, trade rests, and even the ruler suspends travel. A returning impulse can need this kind of protection before it becomes a public undertaking. Clearing a little time, reducing competing demands, or resuming a practice at a modest scale can help you see what is truly coming back. Rest and renewed movement belong to the same cycle here.
A question to sit with
What would you like to return to, and what pause would give that return a fair start?
Source and method
The Judgment and Image are classical passages from the Book of Changes. The English rendering and modern explanation are Meow Ching’s editorial work. This page covers these two passages; it does not translate the six individual line texts.
Read the classical text on Wikisource · Our sources and method