小畜 → 隨
Hexagram 9: Small Taming → Hexagram 17: Following
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 2, 3, 4, 6).
Line 2
九二 牽復。吉。
Nine in the second place means: He allows himself to be drawn into returning. Good fortune.
Line 3
九三 輿說輻。夫妻反目。
Nine in the third place means: The spokes burst out of the wagon wheels. Man and wife roll their eyes.
Line 4
六四 有孚。血去惕出。无咎。
Six in the fourth place means: If you are sincere, blood vanishes and fear gives way. No blame.
Line 6
上九 既雨既處。尚德載。婦貞厲。月幾望。君子征凶。
Nine at the top means: The rain comes, there is rest. This is due to the lasting effect of character. Perseverance brings the woman into danger. The moon is nearly full. If the superior man persists, Misfortune comes.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
虎狼爭食，禮義不行；兼吞其國，齊魯無主。
Tiger and wolf fight over food; rites and propriety are abandoned. They swallow each other is states; Qi and Lu have no lord.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Wind above heaven dissolves into thunder resting within the lake. Tigers and wolves fight over prey; propriety and righteousness have vanished. States are swallowed whole; Qi and Lu find themselves without rulers. From Small Taming to Following, gentle restraint collapses into a world where one must follow the strongest to survive. Sui's image — thunder dormant in the lake — suggests yielding to the rhythm of what is, resting when the time demands rest. But the verse shows the dark side of following: when moral order disappears, following becomes submission to predators. The states of Qi and Lu, heartlands of ritual culture, losing their lords captures the moment when civilization itself becomes prey.
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