坤 → 隨
Hexagram 2: The Receptive → Hexagram 17: Following
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 4, 5).
Line 1
初六 履霜堅冰至。
Six at the beginning means: When there is hoarfrost underfoot, Solid ice is not far off.
Line 4
六四 括囊。无咎无譽。
Six in the fourth place means: A tied-up sack. No blame, no praise.
Line 5
六五 黃裳。元吉。
Six in the fifth place means: A yellow lower garment brings supreme good fortune.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
舉被覆目，不見日月。衣裳簠簋，就長夜室。
Lifting the quilt to cover the eyes, seeing neither sun nor moon. Garments and ritual vessels enter the long night’s chamber.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Earth upon earth yields to lake above thunder — Following. The quilt is pulled over the eyes, blocking out sun and moon. Clothes and ritual vessels are arranged, and one enters the chamber of eternal night. This is a burial scene: the deceased is covered, vestments and sacrificial bowls are laid out, and the body enters the tomb. Lake above thunder, the image of Sui, depicts evening rest — the gentleman retreats into darkness for renewal. The verse renders this literally: following one's fate into the grave. From the Receptive to Following, the earth that supports the living also receives the dead. Sui's principle of following the natural cycle — activity yielding to rest, day yielding to night — here reaches its ultimate expression in death itself.
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