King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Hexagram 4 蒙 changing to hexagram 53 漸

méng
→
jiàn

Changing lines (counted from the bottom): 2, 3, 5.

What to read

Three changing lines: read the judgments of the original and the resulting hexagram; the original is the main one. (Rule set out by Zhu Xi in the Yixue qimeng.)

Judgment of hexagram 4 蒙

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.

Judgment of hexagram 53 漸

女歸吉,利貞。

Kien suggests to us the marriage of a young lady, and the good fortune (attending it). There will be advantage in being firm and correct.

The two hexagrams

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.

Hexagram 53 漸 — judgment

女歸吉,利貞。

Kien suggests to us the marriage of a young lady, and the good fortune (attending it). There will be advantage in being firm and correct.

The changing lines of hexagram 4

LineChineseLegge
2包蒙吉,納婦吉,子克家。The second line, undivided, (shows its subject) exercising forbearance with the ignorant, in which there will be good fortune; and admitting (even the goodness of women, which will also be fortunate. (He may be described also as) a son able to (sustain the burden of) his family.
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.
5童蒙,吉。The fifth line, divided, shows its subject as a simple lad without experience. There will be good fortune.

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.