Hexagram 17: Following → Hexagram 19: Approach

Following
Lake / Thunder
Approach
Earth / Lake
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 2, 4, 5).

Line 2

六二 係小子。失丈夫。

attached
xiǎoa little
child
shīlosing
zhàngthe senior
gentleman

Six in the second place means: If one clings to the little boy, One loses the strong man.

Line 4

九四 隨有獲。貞凶。有孚在道以明。何咎。

suífollow
yǒuhas
huòsuccess
zhēnpersistence
xiōngunfortunate
yǒube
true
zàion
dàoa way
in order to be
míngclear
where is
jiùthe blame

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。

trust
in
jiāexcellence
promising

Nine in the fifth place means: Sincere in the good. Good fortune.

Trigram Changes

Upper TrigramLake EarthThe Joyous → The Receptive
Lower TrigramThunder LakeThe Arousing → The Joyous

Yilin Verse

虵牛鳴呴,呼求水潦。雲雨大會,流成河海。

Serpent-ox bellows and calls, summoning rain and water. Clouds and rain converge in force, flowing into rivers and seas.

— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE

Commentary

Thunder rests within the lake, and a serpentine ox bellows for water. The strange creature — part snake, part cattle — calls out, summoning rain and flood. Clouds and storms converge in a great assembly, and streams swell into rivers, rivers into seas. The image suggests a ritual invocation of rain: the mythic beast's cry activates the heavens, and what begins as a plea becomes an overwhelming torrent. From Following to Approach, the dynamic is one of gathering force — Lin's earth above the lake represents authority descending to meet what rises from below. The small cry becomes an ocean when heaven responds to the call of the depths.

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