随 Following
Upper trigram: Lake (the lake) · Lower trigram: Thunder (thunder)
Adaptability — follow the current of the time rather than fighting it.
Modern interpretation
Do not swim upstream. Follow the situation's own logic, adapt to the people around you, and you will be carried further than any forced effort could take you. The wise yield to the season and arrive sooner.
The Judgment · 卦辞
元亨，利贞，无咎。
“Sui indicates that (under its conditions) there will be great progress and success. But it will be advantageous to be firm and correct. There will (then) be no error.” — James Legge, The Yî King (1882)
The six lines · 爻辞
Read from the bottom line upward. Each line pairs the received Chinese text with Legge's English translation.
官有渝，贞吉，出门交有功。
“The first line, undivided, shows us one changing the object of his pursuit ; but if he be firm and correct, there will be good fortune. Going beyond (his own) gate to find associates, he will achieve merit.”
系小子，失丈夫。
“The second line, divided, shows us one who cleaves to the little boy, and lets go the man of age and experience.”
系丈夫，失小子，随有求，得。利居贞。
“The third line, divided, shows us one who cleaves to the man of age and experience, and lets go the little boy. Such following will get what it seeks; but it will be advantageous to adhere to what is firm and correct.”
随有获，贞凶。有孚在道，以明，何咎？
“The fourth line, undivided, shows us one followed and obtaining (adherents). Though he be firm and correct, there will be evil. If he be sincere (however) in his course, and make that evident, into what error will he fall ?”
孚于嘉，吉。
“The fifth line, undivided, shows us (the ruler) sincere in (fostering all) that is excellent. There will be good fortune.”
拘系之，乃从维之，王用亨于西山。
“The topmost line, divided, shows us (that sincerity) firmly held and clung to, yea, and bound fast. (We see) the king with it presenting his offerings on the western mountain.”
About changing lines
In a real I Ching reading, hexagrams are built by casting coins or yarrow stalks six times, bottom line first. Some lines come out “old” (unstable) — an old yin or old yang flips into its opposite, producing a second hexagram that shows where the situation is heading. The changing lines are the moving parts of your answer: read their individual line statements above, and they point to the direction of change.
Ask a question and cast the coins — free, with a plain-English interpretation grounded in the classical text.
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