Hexagram 25 无妄 changing to hexagram 4 蒙
Changing lines (counted from the bottom): 1, 2, 4, 5.
What to read
Four changing lines: read the two unchanged lines of the resulting hexagram; the lower one is the main one. (Rule set out by Zhu Xi in the Yixue qimeng.)
Hexagram 4 蒙, line 3
勿用取女，見金夫，不有躬，无攸利。
The third line, divided, (seems to say) that one should not marry a woman whose emblem it might be, for that, when she sees a man of wealth, she will not keep her person from him, and in no wise will advantage come from her.
Hexagram 4 蒙, line 6
擊蒙，不利為寇，利禦寇。
In the topmost line, undivided, we see one smiting the ignorant (youth). But no advantage will come from doing him an injury. Advantage would come from warding off injury from him.
The two hexagrams
Hexagram 25 无妄 — judgment
元亨。利貞。其匪正有眚，不利有攸往。
Wû Wang indicates great progress and success, while there will be advantage in being firm and correct. If (its subject and his action) be not correct, he will fall into errors, and it will not be advantageous for him to move in any direction.
Hexagram 4 蒙 — judgment
亨。匪我求童蒙，童蒙求我。初筮告，再三瀆，瀆則不告。利貞。
Măng (indicates that in the case which it presupposes) there will be progress and success. I do not (go and) seek the youthful and inexperienced, but he comes and seeks me. When he shows (the sincerity that marks) the first recourse to divination, I instruct him. If he apply a second and third time, that is troublesome; and I do not instruct the troublesome. There will be advantage in being firm and correct.
The changing lines of hexagram 25
| Line | Chinese | Legge |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 无妄，往吉。 | The first line, undivided, shows its subject free from all insincerity. His advance will be accompanied with good fortune. |
| 2 | 不耕穫，不菑畬，則利有攸往。 | The second line, divided, shows one who reaps without having ploughed (that he might reap), and gathers the produce of his third year's fields without having cultivated them the first year for that end. To such a one there will be advantage in whatever direction he may move. |
| 4 | 可貞，无咎。 | The fourth line, undivided, shows (a case) in which, if its subject can remain firm and correct, there will be no error. |
| 5 | 无妄之疾，勿藥有喜。 | The fifth line, undivided, shows one who is free from insincerity, and yet has fallen ill. Let him not use medicine, and he will have occasion for joy (in his recovery). |
English: James Legge (1882), public domain. Chinese: Zhou Yi.
Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0); Chinese Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.