Hexagram 25 无妄 changing to hexagram 57 巽
Changing lines (counted from the bottom): 1, 2, 3, 4.
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 57 巽, line 5
貞吉悔亡，无不利。无初有終，先庚三日，後庚三日，吉。
The fifth line, undivided, shows that with firm correctness there will be good fortune (to its subject). All occasion for repentance will disappear, and all his movements will be advantageous. There may have been no (good) beginning, but there will be a (good) end. Three days before making any changes, (let him give notice of them); and three days after, (let him reconsider them). There will (thus) be good fortune.
Hexagram 57 巽, line 6
巽在牀下，喪其資斧，貞凶。
The sixth line, undivided, shows the representative of penetration beneath a couch, and having lost the axe with which he executed his decisions. However firm and correct he may (try to) be, there will be evil.
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 57 巽 — judgment
小亨。利有攸往。利見大人。
Sun intimates that (under the conditions which it denotes) there will be some little attainment and progress. There will be advantage in movement onward in whatever direction. It will be advantageous (also) to see the great man.
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. |
| 3 | 无妄之災，或繫之牛，行人之得，邑人之災。 | The third line, divided, shows calamity happening to one who is free from insincerity;—as in the case of an ox that has been tied up. A passer by finds it (and carries it off), while the people in the neighbourhood have the calamity (of being accused and apprehended). |
| 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. |
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.