# Hexagram 17: Following

Canonical page: https://thefreeiching.com/library/17
Last updated: 2026-10-07

```
━━━  ━━━
━━━━━━━
━━━━━━━
━━━  ━━━
━━━  ━━━
━━━━━━━
```

- **Upper trigram:** [Dui 兌](https://thefreeiching.com/trigrams/dui), Lake, the joyous, open
- **Lower trigram:** [Zhen 震](https://thefreeiching.com/trigrams/zhen), Thunder, the arousing, movement
- **Lines, bottom to top:** 100110 (1 = solid yang, 0 = broken yin)

## Contemporary judgment

Following. To be followed, one must first learn to follow. Adapt yourself to what the moment genuinely asks of you, rather than to what you wish it would ask. Influence here comes not from insistence but from responsiveness: from the ability to meet reality as it actually is.

## Image

Thunder within the lake. Movement sinking into stillness. The superior person, at nightfall, turns inward and rests.

## Counsel

Listen before you speak. Attune yourself to the people and conditions you are working with; understand the grain of what is here before trying to shape it. Those who serve the real situation well are the ones who eventually lead it. Resistance now accomplishes nothing.

## The six lines

*Numbered from the bottom upward. These line texts are read when that line is changing in a cast.*

### Line 1

> A nine at the beginning means:
> The measure changes. Perseverance brings good fortune.
> To go out the door in intercourse creates works.

### Line 2

> A six in the second place means:
> If one clings to the small boy,
> one loses the strong man.

### Line 3

> A six in the third place means:
> If one clings to the strong man,
> one loses the small boy.
> Through following one finds what one seeks.
> It is favorable to remain persevering.

### Line 4

> A nine in the fourth place means:
> Following creates success. Perseverance brings misfortune.
> To walk on the way in truthfulness
> brings clarity.
> How could this be a blame?

### Line 5

> A nine in the fifth place means:
> Truthful in the good. Good fortune!

### Line 6

> A six at the top means:
> He finds firm attachment
> and is even bound to it.
> The king introduces him to the Western Mountain.

## Related hexagrams

- **Nuclear (lines 2 to 5):** [53 Development](https://thefreeiching.com/library/53)
- **Inverse (turned upside down):** [18 Work on the Decayed](https://thefreeiching.com/library/18)
- **Opposite (every line flipped):** [18 Work on the Decayed](https://thefreeiching.com/library/18)

## If one line changes

| Changing line | Relating hexagram |
| --- | --- |
| Line 1 | [45 Gathering Together](https://thefreeiching.com/library/45) |
| Line 2 | [58 The Joyous](https://thefreeiching.com/library/58) |
| Line 3 | [49 Revolution](https://thefreeiching.com/library/49) |
| Line 4 | [3 Difficulty at the Beginning](https://thefreeiching.com/library/3) |
| Line 5 | [51 The Arousing](https://thefreeiching.com/library/51) |
| Line 6 | [25 Innocence](https://thefreeiching.com/library/25) |

Previous: [16 Enthusiasm](https://thefreeiching.com/library/16). Next: [18 Work on the Decayed](https://thefreeiching.com/library/18). [All sixty-four hexagrams](https://thefreeiching.com/library).

*The judgment, image and counsel are original contemporary paraphrases written for The Free I Ching. The line text is the CC0 translation from [jesshewitt/i-ching](https://github.com/jesshewitt/i-ching), derived from Richard Wilhelm's 1924 German edition.*

## Cite this page

The Free I Ching. "Hexagram 17: Following." https://thefreeiching.com/library/17 (updated 2026-10-07).

*The I Ching is a tool for reflection, not a prediction. Nothing here forecasts events or replaces professional advice. Short quotations with a link back are welcome. Please do not republish a page in full. The open data files at [/data](https://thefreeiching.com/data) are licensed CC BY 4.0.*

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Source: The Free I Ching (https://thefreeiching.com/library/17). The I Ching is a tool for reflection, not a prediction. Nothing here forecasts events or replaces professional advice.