Hexagram 17 as yes or no
Hexagram 17 Following Along as a yes-or-no answer
As an answer to a 'should I' question, Sui says yes to going along — with the movement of events, with another person's lead, with a change that is already under way — provided the course is correct. Its judgment carries all four virtues, 'great success, favourable to be steady, no blame', and the Tuan adds that 'all under heaven follows the time'. The hexagram does not favour initiating against the current; it favours recognising the current and joining it with your eyes open.
If the changing line is in the lower trigram, the question is whom or what you are choosing to follow: line one says go out and look, lines two and three warn that you cannot keep both options. If the changing line is in the upper trigram, you are the one being followed, and the answer turns on transparency (line four), on trusting what is good (line five), or on noticing that a commitment has become a binding (line six) — in which case the honest answer is that following has run its course.
The hexagram in brief
Thunder resting in the lake: following the time, taking rest in the evening. Supreme success in following what is right — and in being worth following.
Adapt to circumstances and good leadership without losing your principles; followers and the followed both need sincerity.
The judgment
隨：元亨利貞，无咎。Sui indicates that (under its conditions) there will be great progress and success. But it will be advantageous to be firm and correct. There will (then) be no error.
Which line changed?
A changing line sharpens the answer. Each line of 隨 Following Along has its own page:
- 初九Nine at the beginninga change of post · stay correct · beyond the gate
- 六二Six in the second placethe near one · losing the better · cannot have both
- 六三Six in the third placethe grown man · letting go · gain with restraint
- 九四Nine in the fourth placefollowers gained · suspicion · sincerity on the way
- 九五Nine in the fifth placethe ruler · trust in the good · central and correct
- 上六Six at the topbound fast · following exhausted · the western mountain
The same hexagram for
Questions
- Does hexagram 17, Following Along, mean yes or no?
- As an answer to a 'should I' question, Sui says yes to going along — with the movement of events, with another person's lead, with a change that is already under way — provided the course is correct. Its judgment carries all four virtues, 'great success, favourable to be steady, no blame', and the Tuan adds that 'all under heaven follows the time'. The hexagram does not favour initiating against the current; it favours recognising the current and joining it with your eyes open.
- What does Hexagram 17, 隨 Following Along, mean?
- Thunder resting in the lake: following the time, taking rest in the evening. Supreme success in following what is right — and in being worth following.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi (Wuyingdian lineage). English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East XVI, 1882 (public domain).