I Ching Sui Meaning: Hexagram 17 Explained

Draw Sui 隨 and students often take it as: following along is right, go with the flow, go with fate.

Those two words, go with fate, made this hexagram soft. Sui is not having no position. It is that you chose whom to follow, and you will truly be taken along. Follow the right one: great opening, benefit, correctness. Follow the wrong one, and six in the second writes it plain: tie to the small person, lose the husband. The small is tied; the great is gone.

First get the image right. Sui is Lake over Thunder, Following. Dui 兌 above, Zhen 震 below. Lake above, Thunder below. Thunder moves below, the lake joys above; you have moved and people are willing to follow with joy, so it is called Sui. It is not Thunder over Lake, Gui Mei 歸妹. Gui Mei is Zhen above, Dui below, places swapped: a young woman returning, name and mismatch. Sui is lake over thunder: following, pursuing, choosing whom to walk with. Reverse above and below and you misread “follow the right person” as “married the wrong person.”

Why after Yu 豫 there must be Sui

The Xugua says: 「豫必有隨，故受之以隨。」 Yu must have following; therefore Sui follows. Before it is Yu: joy, smoothness. Once people are glad, someone will follow, and you will go follow people. After joy there is no empty window. The next question is: whom do you follow? Who follows you?

This is hard for a reading. People who draw Sui are often in a choosing period: changing boss, partner, circle, teacher. What the hexagram gives is not “follow whoever.” It is “follow and you will be tied.” Tie is fasten. Tie right, there is seeking and gaining; tie wrong, you lose.

The judgment: 「隨，元亨利貞，無咎。」 All four virtues, and no blame: looks extremely good. The four virtues are conditions: the start must be correct, the process open, beneficial, held correct — then no blame. Following at the cost of correctness, and that no-blame in the judgment is not given.

The Tuan says: 「隨，剛來而下柔，動而說，隨。大亨貞，無咎，而天下隨時。」 Zhen is firm, Dui yielding; the firm comes under the yielding, able to move and to joy: that is Sui. Following the time is following the time, not following the wind. When the time changes, office can change, duty can be adjusted; correctness cannot change.

The Xiang says: 「澤中有雷，隨。君子以嚮晦入宴息。」 Thunder in the lake, Sui. The superior person, toward dusk, goes in to rest. Thunder hidden in the lake; when evening comes, rest. Sui also teaches you one earthy thing: follow when you should follow, rest when you should rest. Not sticking to people twenty-four hours. Toward dusk, go in to rest: that is a schedule, and also measure.

Career and wealth: whom you work with, ask before how strong you are

Ask about career and draw Sui: overall good for following, matching, joining a game already going — not forcing yourself to be first. Zhen below is your force to move; Dui above is the other party (or the market, or a superior) taking this. Interviews, seeking a teacher, joining a team, taking a project already walking: all Sui’s scenes.

For wealth, Sui is more like “money you only have by following right”: a split, commission, following a platform, a boss, a craft. You can go alone, but this hexagram’s benefit mostly comes from following people. Follow a small platform, someone who loves drawing big cakes, a small person who only shouts: that is tying to the small. Short term there is sound; long term you lose the husband. Husband here is the great person, the correct road, the end that can truly complete a matter.

The initial nine says going out the door to meet people brings merit. Do not go out, and you meet no merit. Draw Sui and still shut yourself in an old duty without changing: that sentence about office changing is wasted. Office is duty, the set of practices you are used to. Change is change. Practices that should change, change; go out the door to meet: then there is merit. Changing into speculation, changing into pleasing everyone, is not called correct and lucky.

Nine in the fourth, following and there is gain, correct yet unlucky. Follow and you can get something; hold onto “getting” and do not let go, and it is unlucky instead. What most looks like this line at work is following the right person, getting power, getting resources, then turning following into binding, gain into the private. Sincerity on the path, with brightness, what blame. The heart still on the correct path, the matter still seeing light: getting is not an excess. Hide it, privatize it, and gain becomes unlucky.

Love and people: tie to the small and you lose the great

Ask about love and draw Sui: there is definitely following in the relationship. Who follows whose rhythm, who changes the timetable for whom, who hands over the right to choose: all will be magnified. Sui can be very good love: willing to match, willing to walk together. It can also be very dangerous love: tied, cannot untie.

If you are single and draw Sui, a connection comes from going out the door. The initial nine is very clear: going out to meet brings merit. Not going out, only waiting at home for someone to come follow you, does not fit the hexagram. Go to events, meet, open life: then merit appears. After meeting someone, immediately ask six in the second and six in the third: are you tying to a small person, or a husband? Small person is not necessarily young. It is small in pattern, only seeking the present, pulling you down. Husband is not necessarily male. It is the end that can complete a matter, take charge, let you walk up.

If you are already together, Sui reminds two things. One: are you only following the other person’s small moods, putting a larger life down. Two: the upper six’s catching and tying, then binding again: tying is not enough, bind another layer. Love at this place is like a king offering on the western mountain: very devout, and very hard to turn back. Draw the upper six: not telling you to scatter. Telling you to see whether this rope is voluntary, or already cutting. If it is cutting, first loosen a finger, then talk of following.

Workplace people and Sui: most to avoid is following whoever’s voice is loudest. Yu’s gladness is still there; people are easily taken by noise. Sui wants you to choose, not to melt into every game. Following one great person beats following ten small ones.

Lines: the way of following differs a long way

Sui is not all six lines telling you to follow. Whom you follow, how deep: luck and unluck differ.

Initial nine: 官有渝，貞吉。出門交有功. Duty can change; keep correct, luck. Go out the door to meet, then there is merit. Draw the initial nine: good for changing practice, changing occasion, going to see people. Staying in old habit waiting for others to follow you: no merit.

Six in the second: 係小子，失丈夫. Tie to the small, lose the great. Six in the second, yin yielding, follows what is near, small, easy to be close to. Draw this line: in love and work, check: the person you are putting in for, are they making you lose someone more worth following, a road more worth walking. Lose is truly lose, not rhetoric.

Six in the third: 係丈夫，失小子。隨有求得，利居貞. Tie to the great, you will lose the small. Following can have seeking, can gain; beneficial to stay correct. This line pairs with six in the second. Fish and bear’s paw: this hexagram will not let you have both. Draw six in the third: you may be about to drop some light, fun, old things. Willing to let go, then you gain. Stay correct: after following a great person, still be correct. Do not become clinging.

Nine in the fourth: 隨有獲，貞凶。有孚在道，以明，何咎. Follow and there is gain; if you only hold the gain, unlucky. Heart on the path, the matter clear, what excess. Draw nine in the fourth: power and money may be coming in. Coming in is not the problem. Hiding the gain, turning following into a clique: that is the problem. See light, then no blame.

Upper six: 拘係之，乃從維之。王用亨于西山. Catch and tie, then bind again. The king offers on the western mountain. At the top, following becomes faith, becomes bound dead, becomes retreating into the mountain to complete a matter. Draw the upper six: it may be closing the mountain, a very deep loyalty, a relationship already tight near religion. Devotion is fine. Ask yourself whether you can still go out the door. Going out to meet brings merit at the first line; the upper line has already met until you cannot go out.

In class, how to choose matters more than how to follow

Draw Sui and I have students first write three names: the person you are following, the person you may lose, the person you have not yet gone out to meet. Write them down and six in the second, six in the third, the initial nine have somewhere to land.

Then only three things.

First, go out the door. Do not go out, and Sui is empty. Seeing the person you should see once is more useful than thinking at home “should I follow.”

Second, choose the great. Great is not necessarily fame. It is what can keep you correct, let you grow, get a matter done. The small and lively can be friends. Do not tie. Tie is fasten; fasten and you lose the other end.

Third, gain must see light. Followed right, got it: write the rules clearly, speak the split clearly. Nine in the fourth’s unluck is mostly not following wrong. It is after gaining, not on the path.

After Sui is Gu 蠱. Those who follow people with joy must have affairs. Follow long, joy long, and things will rot; they have to be put in order. The muddier you follow now, the more painful working on Gu later.

Compare: I Ching Yu Meaning | Hexagram 16 How to Read: Enthusiasm Without Getting Drunk. After joy there must be following. After Sui, if the situation has already decayed: I Ching Gu Meaning | Hexagram 18 How to Read: Work on What Has Spoiled. Tong Ren is a public heart going out; Sui is whom you go out with. The two can be read together: I Ching Tong Ren Meaning | Hexagram 13 How to Read: Fellowship Beyond Your Circle.

I Ching Sui FAQ

Is Sui telling me to obey, have no opinion?

No. Great opening, benefit, correctness: correctness is the hardest strip in an opinion. You can follow. You cannot sell correctness. Office changing is practice being able to change, not personality being for sale.

I asked about love and drew Sui. Should I marry?

See which kind you are tying to. Tie to the husband, stay correct: you can make following into a name. Tie to the small: marriage is writing losing the husband into the household register. The upper six’s catching and tying: first ask whether you can still each go out the door, then talk of marriage.

I have always followed the boss at work. I drew Sui. Should I change jobs?

You can change office, that is, change duty. The initial nine allows change. Changing jobs is still following, only changing whom. First see whether the new is a husband or a small person, then go out to meet. Following the next even smaller one because you are unhappy: six in the second again.

How do Sui and Tong Ren 同人 differ?

Tong Ren is a public heart, in the wild, the range should be large. Sui is choosing, tying, following and there is gain and loss. Ask “should I form a public game”: leans Tong Ren. Ask “which person should I walk with”: leans Sui.

For an online hexagram, try free love divination and match both birthdays with this reading.