隨 → 謙
Hexagram 17: Following → Hexagram 15: Modesty
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 4, 5).
Line 1
初九 官有渝。貞吉。出門交有功。
Nine at the beginning means: The standard is changing. Perseverance brings good fortune. To go out of the door in company Produces deeds.
Line 3
六三 係丈夫。失小子。隨有求得。利居貞。
Six in the third place means: If one clings to the strong man, One loses the little boy. Through following one finds what one seeks. It furthers one to remain persevering.
Line 4
九四 隨有獲。貞凶。有孚在道以明。何咎。
Nine in the fourth place means: Following creates success. Perseverance brings misfortune. To go one's way with sincerity brings clarity. How could there be blame in this?
Line 5
九五 孚于嘉。吉。
Nine in the fifth place means: Sincere in the good. Good fortune.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
顏叔子夏，遨遊仁宇；溫良受福，不失其所。
Master Yan and Zixia roam the halls of benevolence; gentle and virtuous, they receive blessings, never losing their place.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder rests within the lake, and two paragons of virtue roam the halls of benevolence. Yan Shuzi is celebrated in the Han Shi Waizhuan for his extraordinary propriety: when a neighbor woman sought shelter in a storm, he held a candle aloft through the night to maintain decorum, never approaching her. Paired here with Zi Xia, one of Confucius's foremost disciples known for literary learning and moral rigor, the verse depicts warmth tempered by principle. They receive blessings and never lose their rightful place. From Following to Modesty, the mountain hidden within the earth mirrors their quiet virtue — genuine worth held low, attracting fortune precisely because it does not grasp.
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