In love
Listening comes first: adjust to the other’s needs without forgetting yourself, then choose together a direction that suits you both.
Hexagram 17
I Ching hexagram 17: Following (Sui)
Sui, Following, is the hexagram of adapting: you follow what is right, and you are followed because you are sincere.
- adaptation
- listening
- discernment
The essentials
Sui at a glance
For you, Sui invites you to follow with discernment: adapt to the moment without losing your line and choose what deserves to be followed.
A strength
The flexibility of someone who adapts to circumstances, listens to others, and knows why they follow.
Something to watch
Following for the sake of following: clinging to what is easy or fashionable at the expense of what is right.
- What it advises
- Adapt to circumstances without losing your uprightness, sort out what you follow, and rest when the time comes.
- Its opposite
- 18. Work on What Has Been Spoiled (Gu)
The situation
Sui speaks of following. Thunder rests beneath the lake: energy goes to rest, adapts, agrees to place itself beneath joy. The ancient text links great success to it, provided you stay upright and constant, with no blame to fear.
The hexagram does not preach blind docility. It says you can follow when you are sincere, and you are followed when you are worthy of it. Adapting is a strength, as long as it serves what is right.
Its lines stage the choices: whom to follow, whom to leave, how to say it, and when to stop.
The image: the Lake above Thunder
- AboveLake: joy that is shared
- BelowThunder: the shock that awakens
Thunder in the middle of the Lake: energy settles as day falls. According to the commentaries, the wise person then goes home and rests, for following also means withdrawing.
Consult the I Ching
Throw three coins six times: your hexagram, the lines that change, and the direction they point to.
Free, no account · nothing is sent · no predictions
The six lines
- 1st line (bottom) · solidThe rules change: if you stay upright, the omen is judged favorable. Going out from home to seek companions is useful.
- 2nd line · brokenAttaching yourself to the young one and leaving the experienced one: you cannot follow both at once, and the choice costs something.
- 3rd line · brokenAttaching yourself to the experienced one and leaving the young one: you obtain what you seek, but you must stay firm and upright.
- 4th line · solidYou are followed and you gather people: even firm, you risk trouble. Sincerity, made visible in your conduct, avoids fault.
- 5th line · solidSincere toward what is good: the ancient text sees good fortune in it. Commitment to virtue draws the commitment of others.
- 6th line (top) · brokenA close bond, tightened by sincerity: the king makes his offerings on the western mountain. Faithfulness goes beyond the ordinary bond.
Sui in your life
At work
Adapting to a new framework or a new leadership is favored, as is rallying others by example.
The I Ching helps you reflect on how to act: it does not say what is coming.
How is it built?
- Character
- 隨 (suí)
- Number
- 17 in the King Wen sequence
- Trigrams
- Lake (兌) above, Thunder (震) below
- Inner hexagram
- 53. Development (Jian) (lines 2 to 4 and 3 to 5)
- Read upside down
- 18. Work on What Has Been Spoiled (Gu)
- Symbol
- ䷐ (U+4DD0)
The English names are the usual renderings of the Chinese characters; the texts rely on the Chinese and on early public-domain translations (Legge, 1882; Philastre, 1885–1893).
Sources
- Wikipedia (English), “List of hexagrams of the I Ching,” read on October 15, 2026: numbers, characters, pinyin, lower and upper trigrams.
- Wikipedia (English), “Bagua,” read on October 15, 2026: lines of the eight trigrams, from bottom to top.
- James Legge (1815–1897), The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East, vol. XVI, 1882 (Wikisource): public domain.
- Paul-Louis-Félix Philastre (1837–1902), Le Yi King ou Livre des changements de la dynastie des Tsheou, Annales du Musée Guimet, 1885–1893: public domain (the author died more than 70 years ago).
Frequently asked questions about hexagram 17
What does hexagram 17 of the I Ching mean?
Hexagram 17, Sui, means following: adapting to circumstances with discernment, and being followed in turn through the sincerity of your conduct.
Which figure is opposed to Sui?
It is hexagram 18, Gu, Work on What Has Been Spoiled, which is also its inverse. One adapts to what comes, the other repairs what was neglected. The two are read together.
Related hexagrams