Innocence
- In Chinese
- 無妄 wúwàng
- Above
- The Creative, heaven
- Below
- The Arousing, thunder
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Mark my castWhat hexagram 25 means
Hexagram 25 is thunder under heaven. Legge explains its name as freedom from recklessness and insincerity, and its subject as “one who is entirely simple and sincere”.
The judgment promises much and sets one condition. In Legge it “indicates great progress and success, while there will be advantage in being firm and correct”.
The condition is being correct. Without it the judgment says “it will not be advantageous for him to move in any direction”.
Wilhelm and Baynes call the hexagram Innocence. Their judgment opens with “Supreme success” and ends with a warning for whoever “is not as he should be”.
The judgment and the image
The judgment
无妄元亨，利貞。其匪正有眚，不利有攸往。
INNOCENCE. Supreme success. Perseverance furthers. If someone is not as he should be, He has misfortune, And it does not further him To undertake anything.
success things flow and come throughit furthers it is favorableit does not further it is not favorable
The image
天下雷行，物與《无妄》。先王以茂對時育萬物。
Under heaven thunder rolls: All things attain the natural state of innocence. Thus the kings of old, Rich in virtue, and in harmony with the time, Fostered and nourished all beings.
What the commentaries say
The commentary on the judgment ties the success to its source. It speaks of “great progress proceeding from correctness; such is the appointment of Heaven”.
It finds that source in the figure itself. The first line is whole and the commentary sees in it “the strong (first) line come from the outer (trigram)” and become, in the inner trigram, lord of the whole figure. The fifth line is whole and the second is broken, and the commentary sees “the strong line (of the fifth place) in the central position, and responded to (by the weak second)”. It also names the qualities of the two trigrams, “motive power and strength”.
The same commentary closes with a question about the one who is not correct. “Can anything be done (advantageously) by him whom the (will and) appointment of Heaven do not help?”
The image is thunder rolling under the sky. The commentary on it says that “to (every)thing there is given (its nature), free from all insincerity”. From that image it draws the example of the ancient kings, who acted “in complete accordance with the seasons, thereby nourishing all things”.
Wilhelm and Baynes give the same image. Under the thunder “All things attain the natural state of innocence”, and the kings of old “Fostered and nourished all beings”.
Legge calls the hexagram “an essay on this noble attribute”. He adds that “An absolute rectitude is essential to it”, and he ends his note with a warning to the sincere person. “But let him see to it that he never swerve from being correct.”
The six lines
First line
无妄，往吉。
Innocent behavior brings good fortune.
good fortune it goes well
The first line is whole and opens the lower trigram, Thunder. It is the one line whose verdict is good fortune. Legge notes that the action of its subject “will very much characterise all the action set forth, and will itself be fortunate”. The commentary adds that such a person “will get what he desires”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 12, Standstill
Second line
不耕穫；不菑畬；則利有攸往。
If one does not count on the harvest while plowing, Nor on the use of the ground while clearing it, It furthers one to undertake something.
it furthers it is favorable
The harvest comes without having been the aim. The commentary explains that “(the thought of) riches to be got had not risen (in his mind)”. Legge reads in the subject “an entire freedom” from “selfish or mercenary motive”, and Wilhelm speaks of one who “does not count on the harvest while plowing”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 10, Treading
Third line
无妄之災，或繫之牛，行人之得，邑人之災。
Undeserved misfortune. The cow that was tethered by someone Is the wanderer’s gain, the citizen’s loss.
no verdict
Here calamity reaches someone who is free from insincerity. Wilhelm names it “Undeserved misfortune”. A passer-by takes a tied ox and the neighbours bear the loss, and Legge notes that they “are of course entirely innocent”. He opens his note with the general point. “But calamity may also sometimes befal the best, and where there is this freedom from insincerity”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 13, Fellowship
Fourth line
可貞，无咎。
He who can be persevering Remains without blame.
no blame there is no mistake in it
This line promises no more than the absence of error, and only if its subject stays firm. Legge writes that “the paragraph must be understood as a caution”. The commentary says of the one who manages it that “he firmly holds fast (his correctness)”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 42, Increase
Fifth line
无妄之疾，勿藥有喜。
Use no medicine in an illness Incurred through no fault of your own. It will pass of itself.
no verdict
The fifth line shows a sincere person who has fallen ill. The text says “Let him not use medicine”, and Legge reads that “Without his efforts a way of escape for him will be opened”. Wilhelm ends the line with “It will pass of itself.”
Legge places this line high. It is strong and central, and so “its subject must possess the quality of the hexagram in perfection”. The illness comes all the same. On medicine for such a person the commentary is short and says “it should not be tried (at all)”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 21, Biting Through
Sixth line
无妄，行有眚，无攸利。
Innocent action brings misfortune. Nothing furthers.
nothing that would further nothing is favorable
The top line is sincere too, and still it is told not to act. Legge explains that it “comes into the field when the action has run its course”. His advice is plain. “He should be still, and not initiate any fresh movement.” The commentary speaks of “the calamity arising from action (when the time for it is) exhausted”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 17, Following
Hexagram 25 unchanging
If none of your six lines is moving, you read the hexagram as a whole. That is the judgment and the image above, without any of the line texts.
The book gives the reason. Lines that do not move are “non-moving lines, which serve only as structural matter in the hexagram, without intrinsic meaning of their own”.
For hexagram 25 unchanging, what remains is the success promised by the judgment, with its condition of being correct, and the image of thunder under the sky, with the ancient kings who follow the seasons and nourish all things.
Questions people ask
What does hexagram 25 mean?
It describes a person free from insincerity, and the success that follows as long as that person stays correct. The judgment “indicates great progress and success, while there will be advantage in being firm and correct”.
What does hexagram 25 unchanging mean?
With no moving lines you read only the judgment and the image. For hexagram 25 that is great success on the condition of being correct, and the thunder under the sky that gives each thing its nature.
What does hexagram 25 changing to 17 mean?
It is hexagram 25 with its top line moving. That line shows a sincere person who is “sure to fall into error, if he take action”, and when it changes the hexagram becomes number 17.
What does hexagram 25 changing to 12 mean?
It is hexagram 25 with its first line moving. That line says of its subject that “His advance will be accompanied with good fortune”, and when it changes the hexagram becomes number 12.
Does hexagram 25 say not to take medicine?
Only its fifth line speaks of medicine, and it speaks of one case, a person “free from insincerity” who has fallen ill. Legge reads the line as a word against worry, since the person “need not be anxious”.
Richard Wilhelm, translated by Cary F. Baynes. Wû Wang in James Legge. Innocence in Wilhelm and Baynes.
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