Hexagram 17 for love
Hexagram 17 Following Along in love and relationships
Sui is thunder resting in the lake, the eldest son beneath the youngest daughter: the strong party lowers itself under the gentle one, and the Tuan says this is why there is movement and pleasure together. The judgment promises great success on one condition, 'it is favourable to be steady', and the lines show what following looks like in a bond — leaving one's own circle to meet someone (line one), choosing the near over the right (line two) or the strong over the familiar (line three), gaining a devoted follower and the suspicion that comes with it (line four), trusting the good (line five), and a tie that can no longer be loosened (line six).
For a relationship the hexagram is warm: one of you is willing to yield to the other, and that willingness is what makes the pleasure real. Its question is who you are following and why. Read a changing line as the kind of attachment at stake; the second and third lines in particular ask whether closeness has stood in for choice.
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
- Is hexagram 17, Following Along, a good sign for love?
- Sui is thunder resting in the lake, the eldest son beneath the youngest daughter: the strong party lowers itself under the gentle one, and the Tuan says this is why there is movement and pleasure together. The judgment promises great success on one condition, 'it is favourable to be steady', and the lines show what following looks like in a bond — leaving one's own circle to meet someone (line one), choosing the near over the right (line two) or the strong over the familiar (line three), gaining a devoted follower and the suspicion that comes with it (line four), trusting the good (line five), and a tie that can no longer be loosened (line six).
- 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).