Thunder stirring inside the lake: a hexagram of following and being followed. Things go through greatly, but only following what is correct stays free of blame.
The lower trigram is Zhen ☳, thunder, whose quality is movement (動); the upper is Dui ☱, the lake, whose quality is joy (說). Zhu Xi sees one side moving and the other glad to go along with it, and that is following. When one can follow others and others come to follow in turn, things pass easily, but it stays free of blame only if what is followed is correct.
Judgment (卦辭)
The text attached to the whole hexagram, read when no line is changing.
隨，元亨，利貞，无咎。
Sui: great success. It is fitting to stay correct and firm; then there is no blame.
Zhu Xi glosses the name as “to follow” and finds it in the figure: in each line change he traces, a firm line comes down to follow soft ones, and in the trigrams thunder moves below while the lake above is pleased. Where following runs both ways, things go through easily. Blame, however, is avoided only if what one follows is correct. He also cites Mu Jiang in the Chunqiu commentary, who said that only someone with the qualities these words name could meet Sui without blame; reading them as four virtues is not their original sense, he notes, but her point captures how a divination should be read.
Image (大象)
The Image commentary (象傳) reads the whole hexagram from its two trigrams.
澤中有雷，隨。君子以嚮晦入宴息。
In the midst of the lake there is thunder: Sui. The noble person, when evening comes, retires to rest at ease.
Zhu Xi sees thunder stored away inside the lake, a force lying quiet because its season calls for rest. Following here means following the time itself. So when dusk comes, the noble person does not push on but withdraws and rests.
Lines (爻辭)
From the bottom line to the top. In the line names, nine (九) marks a yang line and six (六) a yin line.
Line 1, yang (初九)changing line in the shared reading
官有渝，貞吉。出門交有功。
What governs one undergoes a change. Being correct and firm brings good fortune. Going out the gate to mix with others brings achievement.
Here the angle changes: the hexagram is about others following, Zhu Xi says, while each line is about one's own following. The first line (初九), yang at the base, is the master of thunder and makes the hexagram what it is. Following anything lets it take charge and alter one's usual course, which is acceptable only when it is correct. Going out the gate means not keeping that following private; there the text places achievement.
Line 2, yin (六二)changing line in the shared reading
係小子，失丈夫。
Bound to the youngster, it loses the grown man.
Two yang lines are within reach of the soft second line (六二): the first line just below, close at hand, and the fifth, its proper partner, farther off. Being yin and weak, it cannot hold out for the right match and binds itself to what is near. The text names no outcome, but Zhu Xi says the misfortune and shame are plain without being stated.
Line 3, yin (六三)changing line in the shared reading
係丈夫，失小子。隨有求得，利居貞。
Bound to the grown man, it loses the youngster. In following, what it seeks it obtains. It is fitting to remain correct and firm.
This picture reverses the one below it. In Zhu Xi's reading the “grown man” is the yang fourth line and the “youngster” is the first; the third line (六三) clings to the fourth just above and lets the first go. Following one who carries responsibility, it gets what it seeks. But the fourth is not its proper partner, so the bond can look like flattery, and the text adds the warning to stay correct.
Line 4, yang (九四)changing line in the shared reading
隨有獲，貞凶。有孚在道以明，何咎。
Following, it makes gains; even if correct and firm, misfortune. With sincerity, keeping to the way, and with clear sight, what blame could there be?
Strong, and at the foot of the upper trigram, the fourth line (九四) is of one kind with the yang ruler above it. It follows and makes gains, but its weight presses on the ruler, so even correctness meets misfortune. The way out lies in the second sentence: sincerity on the way and clear judgment let the one above rest easy and those below follow. Zhu Xi addresses this to anyone holding responsibility at such a time.
Line 5, yang (九五)changing line in the shared reading
孚于嘉，吉。
Sincere toward the good. Good fortune.
Central and correct, the yang fifth line (九五) answers the second line, which is also central and correct. Zhu Xi takes the phrase as trust placed in what is good, the ground that following should stand on. The text judges it favorable, and he adds that the judgment holds for one who is in fact like this. The line leaves a question about where one's own trust is placed.
Top line, yin (上六)changing line in the shared reading
拘係之，乃從維之，王用亨于西山。
Held and bound, then tied fast once more. The king makes an offering at the western mountain.
At the top, following reaches its limit, a bond tied so tight it cannot be undone. Zhu Xi turns this into a picture of devotion: sincerity that complete can reach the spirits, so the king makes an offering, and he reads 亨 here as 享, “to offer.” Seen from Zhou, he notes, Mount Qi lay to the west. He relates the line to divining about rites for mountains and rivers, good when such sincerity is present.
If you drew this hexagram
Which text to read depends on how many lines are changing. With none, read the judgment; with one, read that line; with more, follow Zhu Xi's rules in the Yixue qimeng.
Text: Zhu Xi, Yuanben Zhouyi benyi (原本周易本義), Siku Quanshu Wenyuange copy, as transcribed by the Kanseki Repository (KR1a0031), corrected and punctuated by K-magpie. Translation and explanation: written by AI (Claude) from Zhu Xi's commentary and checked against the text and commentary. Sources and the list of corrections are on the Today's Hexagram page.
Characters corrected in this hexagram — image: 晏息 → 宴息