隨 → 革
Hexagram 17: Following → Hexagram 49: Revolution
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 1 changing line (line 3).
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.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
載金販狗，利棄我走；藏匿淵渠，悔折為咎。
Hauling gold, peddling dogs; profit gone, I flee. Hiding in a ditch and channel -- regret and ruin are my fault.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder rests within the lake, and someone trades in gold while peddling dogs — a mercenary commerce mixing the precious with the base. Profit tempts them to flee, but hiding in ditches and channels only brings regret compounded into blame. The verse portrays a merchant caught between greed and escape: the gold is valuable but the dog-dealing is disreputable, and the combination drives the trader underground where concealment turns to self-recrimination. From Following to Revolution, fire within the lake transforms the nature of what it touches. Ge demands that what is corrupt be reformed, but this verse shows a figure who follows profit into hiding rather than facing the need for change — revolution deferred becomes accumulated guilt.
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