Following

Following, or Hexagram 17, describes a relation in which people may follow others or attract followers. It promises great progress and success only when following is guided by what is proper and correct: the hexagram’s central concern is not obedience by itself, but the judgment that makes a change of allegiance or purpose trustworthy.

Meaning and Conditions

The judgment for Following announces great progress and success, then qualifies that promise: it is advantageous to be firm and correct, and under that condition there will be no error. The qualification governs the whole hexagram. Following is presented as flexible enough to cover both taking another person as a guide and becoming someone whom others follow, but neither direction is automatically beneficial.

The commentary connects the hexagram to Harmony and Contentment, which precedes it in the sequence. When people are satisfied with the conditions around them, they are more likely to follow; they will not readily follow those with whom they have no contentment. Yet popularity or ease of attachment does not settle whether the relation is sound. The movement must still answer to what is proper and correct, so favorable conditions create an opportunity rather than a license for unexamined conformity.

The First Two Lines

The first line depicts a person changing the object of his pursuit. The image might suggest instability, but the commentary reads it favorably because the line is strong and occupies its correct place. Its subject can alter his course without forfeiting good fortune: the change is supported by native vigor and sound position, rather than mere fickleness.

The same line shows him going beyond his own gate to find associates. The commentary treats this outward movement as evidence of public spirit and freedom from selfish considerations. Following therefore begins not as passive attachment but as a willingness to seek company beyond one’s private enclosure; a change of pursuit can earn merit when it opens into a broader association.

The second line offers a pointed contrast. Its subject cleaves to the little boy and lets go the man of age and experience. The commentary explains the error through the lines’ relation: the second line’s proper correlate is the strong fifth line, but instead of waiting to follow that appropriate counterpart, it attaches itself to the line below. The bad omen lies in choosing an immediately available but unsuitable attachment over the more fitting relation.

Reciprocity and the Hexagram’s Reach

The commentary emphasizes that Following encompasses both sides of influence: a person may follow others, or others may follow him. The hexagram’s flexibility accounts for its promise of great progress, but the same flexibility makes discernment essential. A person who attracts followers is subject to the same standard as one who chooses a guide; the relation is favorable only insofar as it remains directed by propriety and correctness.

This social account gives the hexagram a practical ethical force. Its paired examples distinguish a change that leaves self-interest behind and seeks associates from an attachment that rejects experience for a lesser, nearer preference. The favorable judgment is thus conditional, not indiscriminate: following can build association and merit, but the quality of the choice determines whether its momentum leads to success or error.

Divination and Interpretation

Following belongs to a text whose line figures were used in divination, an established practice involving both tortoise-shell and stalks. The account traces divination to early Chinese records and distinguishes consultation from absolute foreknowledge: its stated purpose was to judge whether contemplated plans and circumstances were likely to turn out fortunately or unfortunately, not to reveal future events as fixed certainties.

The described stalk procedure uses forty-nine stalks, manipulated three times for each line. Since a hexagram has six lines, forming one requires eighteen manipulations. Odd numbers produce strong, undivided lines and even numbers weak, divided ones; the emblematic numbers 9, 8, 7, and 6 help determine how the lines are combined. Once the figure is formed, its interpretation turns to the hexagram judgment attributed to King Wen and the emblematic line statements attributed to the Duke of Zhou. Numbers therefore assist in producing the figure; they are not presented as an independent doctrine that makes numbers the cause of things.

The book’s account also records a skeptical qualification. It rejects the idea that the Yijing’s purpose was to disclose every future event, and cites a passage in which stillness is fortunate when both tortoise-shell and stalks oppose human plans, while active measures are unlucky. This limit reinforces the distinction between using a figure to examine a contemplated course and treating divination as certainty. In Following, as in the divinatory practice that interprets it, a favorable sign does not remove the need for judgment.