井 → 隨
Hexagram 48: The Well → Hexagram 17: Following
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 4).
Line 1
初六 井泥不食。舊井无禽。
Six at the beginning means: One does not drink the mud of the well. No animals come to an old well.
Line 2
九二 井谷射鮒。甕敝漏。
Nine in the second place means: At the wellhole one shoots fishes. The jug is broken and leaks.
Line 3
九三 井渫不食。為我心惻。可用汲。王明。並受其福。
Nine in the third place means: The well is cleaned, but no one drinks from it. This is my heart's sorrow, For one might draw from it. If the king were clear-minded, Good fortune might be enjoyed in common.
Line 4
六四 井甃无咎。
Six in the fourth place means: The well is being lined. No blame.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
蜆見不祥，禍起我鄉。行人畏亡，使命不通。
An ill omen appears; disaster arises in my village. Travelers fear for their lives; messages cannot get through.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Water drawn up through wood, the well anchors the settlement — but an ill omen appears and calamity strikes the homeland. Travelers fear for their lives, and messages can no longer get through. The 'clam seen' (蜆見) as an inauspicious sign reflects Han-era omen interpretation where unusual natural appearances signaled disorder. Roads become impassable, communication breaks down, and the community the well once sustained is severed from the outside world. From The Well to Following, thunder rests within the lake at nightfall. Following requires responsiveness to the moment, but here there is no signal to follow — only silence where messengers once traveled.
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