隨 → 井
Hexagram 17: Following → Hexagram 48: The Well
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 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 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?
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
鴟鴞破斧，邦人危殆；賴其忠德，轉禍為福。傾亡復立。
The owl broke the axe; the people were in peril. Relying on his loyal virtue, he turned disaster into blessing. What was toppled stood again.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder rests within the lake, and the owl has broken the axe — a direct allusion to the Shijing ode 'Chi Xiao' and the companion poem 'Po Fu' from the Odes of Bin, both attributed to the Duke of Zhou. In these poems, the owl threatens the nest and the axe is shattered in battle, representing the crisis when the Three Monitors rebelled against the young Zhou dynasty. The people stand in mortal peril. Yet loyal virtue saves them: catastrophe is transmuted into blessing, and what has been toppled is restored. From Following to the Well, water above wood draws nourishment from the depths. The Duke's fidelity functions like the well — inexhaustible, it sustains the state from below even when everything above has collapsed.
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