Choosing to Follow
suí · Lake over ThunderFollow what deserves it, not merely what is loudest.
元亨。利貞。无咎。
Following can open wide paths, as long as you stay true to what is right. Go along with the season and the people around you, but keep your own center. Done that way, there is no fault in it.
The six lines
初九：官有渝，貞吉。出門交有功。
Your post or position is shifting. Stay steady and this can go well. Step outside your own door and meet people; gains lie there.
六二：係小子，失丈夫。
Stay tied to the young boy and the grown man slips from you. The smaller bond can cost you the stronger one.
六三：係丈夫，失小子。隨有求得，利居貞。
You hold to the grown man and let the boy go. Following this way, what you seek can come, if you stay settled and upright.
九四：隨有獲，貞凶。有孚在道，以明，何咎。
Following brings you gains, yet clinging to them invites danger. Keep faith with the right way and act in plain sight, and where is the fault?
九五：孚于嘉，吉。
Put your trust in what is truly good. Sincerity toward excellence is a favorable place to stand.
上六：拘係之，乃從維之。王用亨于西山。
Bound tight, then tied again: this following has become a bond that holds. The king offers it up at the western mountain, a sacred devotion.
The I Ching is a tool for reflection. Do not use it as the basis for medical, legal or money decisions.