隨 → 坎
Hexagram 17: Following → Hexagram 29: The Abysmal Water
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 4).
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 2
六二 係小子。失丈夫。
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。
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?
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
入暗出明,動作有光;運轉休息,常樂允康。
Entering darkness, emerging into light; every action has its radiance. Turning and resting in rhythm, ever joyful and at ease.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder rests within the lake, and the journey moves from darkness into light. Actions shine with radiance; the cycle of effort and rest turns smoothly, bringing constant joy and abiding health. The verse is an unusually pure benediction — no danger, no irony, simply the natural rhythm of labor and repose producing wellbeing. From Following to the Abysmal, the paradox is striking: Kan represents doubled peril, water upon water, yet this verse finds within that repeated descent a rhythm of renewal. Entering darkness and emerging into light is precisely the Abysmal's discipline: one who follows the water's way — flowing through danger without resisting — discovers that the abyss itself teaches constancy.
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