Hexagram 25: Wú Wàng (Innocence)

The Judgment

Wu 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.

无妄：元，亨，利，贞。其匪正有眚，不利有攸往。

Commentary on the Judgment (Tuan)

In Wu Wang we have the strong (first) line come from the outer (trigram), and become in the inner trigram lord (of the whole figure); we have (the attributes of) motive power and strength; we have the strong line (of the fifth place) in the central position, and responded to (by the weak second): - there will be 'great progress proceeding from correctness; such is the appointment of Heaven. '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:' - whither can he (who thinks he is) free from all insincerity, (and yet is as here described) proceed? Can anything be done (advantageously) by him whom the (will and) appointment of Heaven do not help?

彖曰：无妄，刚自外来，而为主于内。动而健，刚中而应，大亨以正，天之命也。其匪正有眚，不利有攸往，无妄之往，何之矣？天命不佑，行矣哉！

The Great Image

The thunder rolls all under the sky, and to (every)thing there is given (its nature), free from all insincerity. The ancient kings, in accordance with this, (made their regulations) in complete accordance with the seasons, thereby nourishing all things.

象曰：天下雷行，物与无妄；先王以茂对时，育万物。

The six lines

1. Line 1 (first): The first NINE, undivided, shows its subject free from all insincerity. His advance will be accompanied with good fortune.

   When 'he who is free from insincerity makes any movement,' he will get what he desires.

   In plain words: Without falseness, going on brings good fortune. "Without falseness" means being genuine and free of improper wishes. The first line is strong and low, the ruler of the lower trigram, moving honestly. The Small Image says it achieves its aim.

   初九：无妄，往吉。 象曰：无妄之往，得志也。

2. Line 2 (second): The second SIX, 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.

   'He reaps without having ploughed:' - (the thought of) riches to be got had not risen (in his mind).

   In plain words: Not ploughing with an eye to the harvest, not clearing land with an eye to fields already worked: then it is favourable to go on. The words refer to newly cleared land and land worked for three years. The second line is central and correct and does only what the moment requires, without scheming for results. The Small Image says it is not after wealth.

   六二：不耕获，不菑畬，则利有攸往。 象曰：不耕获，未富也。

3. Line 3 (third): The third SIX, 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).

   'The passer-by gets the ox:' - this proves a calamity to the people of the neighbourhood.

   In plain words: Unexpected misfortune: someone tethers an ox here, a passer-by takes it, and the townspeople fall under suspicion. The Chinese idiom for undeserved misfortune comes from this line. The third line is neither central nor correct; it has done nothing wrong but is caught up anyway. The Small Image says the passer-by gets the ox and the townspeople suffer.

   六三：无妄之灾，或系之牛，行人之得，邑人之灾。 象曰：行人得牛，邑人灾也。

4. Line 4 (fourth): The fourth NINE, undivided, shows (a case) in which, if its subject can remain firm and correct, there will be no error.

   'If he can remain firm and correct there will be no error:' - he firmly holds fast (his correctness).

   In plain words: One can remain steadfast: no fault. The fourth line is yang in a yin place, strong but not central; the first line is also yang, so there is no correspondence, and rather than acting rashly it keeps to its place. The Small Image says this is something it already has.

   九四：可贞，无咎。 象曰：可贞无咎，固有之也。

5. Line 5 (fifth): The fifth NINE, 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).

   'Medicine in the case of one who is free from insincerity!' - it should not be tried (at all).

   In plain words: An illness not of one's own making; without medicine there will be joy. The fifth line is central and correct; the trouble it meets is not caused by any fault of its own, so it should not rush into remedies. The Small Image says such medicine should not be tried lightly. This is a figure for one's situation, not medical advice: if you are unwell, see a doctor.

   九五：无妄之疾，勿药有喜。 象曰：无妄之药，不可试也。

6. Line 6 (sixth (top)): The topmost NINE, undivided, shows its subject free from insincerity, yet sure to fall into error, if he take action. (His action) will not be advantageous in any way.

   'The action (in this case) of one who is free from insincerity' will occasion the calamity arising from action (when the time for it is) exhausted.

   In plain words: Even without falseness, action brings disaster, and nothing is gained. The top line is at the end of the hexagram: its time and position are exhausted, and it should not move. The Small Image says this is the disaster of reaching the end.

   上九：无妄，行有眚，无攸利。 象曰：无妄之行，穷之灾也。

Line positions

3 of the six lines stand in their proper place (strong lines in odd places, weak lines in even places).

The second and fifth lines hold the central places of the lower and upper trigrams; being one strong and one weak, they correspond, and both are also in their proper places.

Of the three pairs of corresponding places (first and fourth, second and fifth, third and top), 2 pairs are made of one strong and one weak line.

Strong lines belong in odd places and weak lines in even places; the second and fifth are the central places; first and fourth, second and fifth, third and top correspond, and they "respond" when one is strong and the other weak.

These are structural conventions, not scores of good or bad fortune. Commentators differ: Wang Bi treats the first and top places as beginning and end without fixed yin or yang positions. Read each line with its Small Image and the whole hexagram.

Place in Jing Fang's eight palaces

Jing Fang grouped the 64 hexagrams into eight "palaces" of eight, each headed by a doubled trigram. Changing the lines of the head hexagram one by one from the bottom gives the next five; the last two are the "wandering soul" and "returning soul" hexagrams. The Xun palace runs: Xùn (head), Xiǎo Chù (1st change), Jiā Rén (2nd change), Yì (3rd change), Wú Wàng (4th change), Shì Kè (5th change), Yí (wandering soul), Gǔ (returning soul).

A recorded case from Takashima

Wu Wang to Tong Ren: a partner suddenly cancels: A friend's prospective partner cancelled that day's meeting by letter, citing trouble at home. The third line of Wu Wang, "someone tethers an ox; the traveller's gain is the townsman's loss", led Takashima, reading Li as both ox and woman, to guess that a young woman had been left in the partner's care and brought trouble with her.

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English text: James Legge, The Yi King (Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16, 1882), public domain, as transcribed by the Chinese Text Project. Chinese: the received text. Offered for study and reflection, not as prediction.

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