What this change means
The top line alone moves, and the Lake becomes Heaven: thunder now rolls beneath the open sky. This line is about support. You can win followers and backing, and even powerful people may stand behind you and recognize you. The old image is striking: someone seized and bound, then tied fast still more, and a king making an offering on the western mountain. Bonds this strong ask for something in return, and the movement shows what. It leads to 25 Innocence, where acting with a pure heart, free of hidden motives and true to what is right, lets good things reach you. If you act otherwise, the resulting hexagram warns, obstacles appear. So this is the test of support. People are tying their trust to you; keep your motives clean and your conduct straight, and that trust has something real to hold on to.
What to read, in order
Marked ● is what Zhu Xi's tradition puts at the center for this number of moving lines.
- Line 6 of 17 Adapting
You can win followers and support; even the most powerful people back you and recognize you.
Seized and bound, then tied fast still more. The king makes his offering on the western mountain.
- The judgment of 17 Adapting
It's a time both to lead and to follow. If you can see the place life is asking you to take right now, and act genuinely from wherever you belong, you'll gain more leadership and more support for what you do.
Great success. Constancy is favorable. No fault.
- The judgment of 25 Innocence
If you act with a pure heart, free of hidden motives and without straying from what is right, true to original human nature, you'll let the blessings of heaven reach you. Otherwise you'll meet obstacles and your affairs will become difficult.
Great success. Constancy is favorable. If it is not upright, there is calamity. It is not favorable to have somewhere to go.
The trigrams
The way back
25 Innocence → 17 Adaptingline 6
Other transformations of Adapting
Make your own cast
The answer changes with the question. Toss the coins and see which lines move for you.